The Warriors, for the 19th time this season, have no one to blame but themselves.
The Golden State 119-114 overtime losses It was another Warriors suicide at the Target Center against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday.
Down 96-82 with 11:12 left in the fourth quarter, Golden State’s late collapse was the fodder for what ended up being a mistake-filled feast for Minnesota in regulation.
If the Warriors’ disappointing loss wasn’t a sad sign of trouble already, coach Steve Kerr was the only one to speak after the game. The reason for the players not being available to the media remains to be seen, but speculation would lead you to believe a team meeting could be called.
Although Kerr was the only speaker, his comments carried the weight of the group.
“I thought we dominated the game and then I thought we gift-wrapped it,” Kerr told reporters after the game. “And not to take anything away from Minnesota, I thought they were really good, they took advantage of our mistakes and lack of execution. [D’Angelo Russell] They were on fire and the guys made big shots, but we missed box scores, we threw the ball around, we took too many shots.
“So we stopped doing everything we did to control the game and got what we deserved.”
Eight of the Warriors’ 25 losses this season have come by five points or fewer. Golden State is 1-3 in overtime and won’t be a winner if not for a razor-thin 143-141 double overtime victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Jan. 2.
For a team that has blown countless fourth-quarter leads this season, it was an all-too-familiar feeling for the Warriors on Wednesday night. Ker’s reasoning for why this continues is simple.
“Execute. That’s the only phrase I know, whatever you want to call it, but the truth is, you have to execute,” Kerr explained. “These are the best players in the world, even with them, if they want to give a team a few possessions, they have guys they can use. D-Lo hits like three 3s after we shoot. The ball goes away a few times and the whole game changes.
“If you want to win, you have to execute, especially on the road, and this year we’ve lost 5 games on the road because of turnovers. We’re not good enough to win without any pressure. It might have been a few years ago. If we don’t execute in the fourth quarter on the road, we’re not good enough to win now. “We’re trying to fix that, we’re trying to work on that and we’ve got to do better.”
The Warriors were sloppy late in the fourth quarter and throughout overtime. In the final five minutes and five minutes of overtime, the Warriors committed seven costly turnovers. Sloppy play is often a sign of a bigger in-game problem, but Wednesday night’s Warriors couldn’t blame the slump on fatigue.
“The game went to overtime. Steph and Klay got 42 and 40 minutes, so you take the overtime and they’re in their normal range,” Kerr said. “We had a rest yesterday, so I didn’t think fatigue was a factor, just mentally we weren’t sharp. We gave away a lot of possessions.”
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After winning three consecutive victories, the warriors appeared Being around the corner And they began a run at one of the top seeds in the Western Conference.
Unfortunately for Golden State, there was a brick wall around that corner.