SAN FRANCISCO — The Warriors spent most of the last month rebranding themselves. With Draymond Green back in the fold and since their nine-day hiatus, the Warriors are 8-4 having pocketed comfortable and clutch wins with one of the NBA’s best defenses over that span.
A bit of their old selves flashed at the worst time in Wednesday night’s loss to the hot Los Angeles Clippers: Again they had a discombobulated defense, frozen scoring stretches and their sixth loss when leading by at least 15 points this season.
The Clippers outscored the Warriors 44-28 in the fourth quarter. Amir Coffee — who closed to replace a fouled-out Paul George — and Norman Powell delivered the daggers in the form of a trio of wide-open corner 3-pointers. Those shots were the result of James Harden picking to pieces Golden State’s pick-and-roll defense late.
“They picked us apart in the pick-and-roll,” coach Steve Kerr said. “And we didn’t adjust well enough. They got the ball into the pocket and Powell got several threes off of that pocket pass, and then we fouled.”
If they’d staved off a collapse, this game would have been yet another big step forward for a team needing to make wide strides toward the postseason.
They turned the ball over just nine times and notched 34 assists. Brandin Podziemski found his 3-pointer again, going 5-for-5 from deep. He’s been picking his 3-pointer back up over the last three games after shooting 12% on 2.5 attempts per game over his 10 previous games.
Steph Curry became the first NBA player in history to hit at least seven 3-pointers in four straight games — in all he was 9-of-19 from 3 with a team-high 41 points. Curry’s hot streak has been at the fulcrum of the five-game win streak snapped on Wednesday; he’s hit 36 3-pointers and created 138 points over his last four games.
Green’s return as the defensive anchor has also revitalized Jonathan Kuminga and Andrew Wiggins, in particular, on the wings defensively to the tune of a 112.3 defensive rating since Jan. 24. But that identity disappeared in the final nine minutes against the Clippers’ strong shooting corps.
The Warriors over-helped to leave shooters open in the corners, couldn’t wrangle a key offensive board off a stop late and, to Kerr’s dismay, Klay Thompson fouled Russell Westbrook with LA in the bonus with 39 seconds left and the Warriors down three.
“Very frustrating for sure,” Brandin Podziemski said. “What happened in that last quarter, the complete opposite of what we’ve been doing the last seven games so it’s really disappointing to see that…When the score was 106-96, it kind of felt like we stopped playing and kind of felt sorry for ourselves.”
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Before the All-Star break begins, the Warriors have time to regroup and rest their legs following one more push in a back-to-back against the Utah Jazz on Thursday. This loss against the Clippers served as a reminder of how thin the line is between their old selves and new. When they return from the break, are they the impenetrable defense they’ve been this month? Or will the succumb to the late-game dysfunction?
At 26-26, the Warriors don’t have time to toe that line much longer.
“Thirty-four assists and nine turnovers,” Kerr said. “The game got away from us defensively there in the fourth and I’d like to watch the tape and see how we can adjust better because they picked us apart in the high screen.
“This is a one-off, we played a really solid game.”
