PHOENIX — Stephen Curry doesn’t have the answer for what ails his struggling team.
As he sat behind the podium after another disappointing last second 99-98 loss to the Phoenix Suns late Thursday night, the Golden State Warriors superstar tried to put into context why his team continues to fall into holes that they can’t pull themselves from.
“I don’t know,” Curry said. “I wish …”
Curry proceeded to outline that there have been plenty of times throughout the season that the Warriors have played well enough, but then run into a bad three-minute stretch and things just unravel. There have been other nights when teams get red hot from the field and shoot above their normal averages. Curry wasn’t using these as excuses — after all, as he said, “that’s how it goes in the league” — just facts of a season the Warriors can’t seem to figure out. The Warriors are now 13-15 in a season where they were still holding out hope they could contend for one more elusive title. What came out of Curry’s mouth next is one of the truest statements made by a Warrior all season.
“If you’re gonna be a good team, you’re able to overcome all of that,” Curry said, after shooting just 3-for-14 from the field. “We’re obviously not a good team right now because of what our record says and the fact that we found ourselves in these kind of positions.”
With Thursday’s loss, the Warriors are now 5-10 in clutch games, which is defined by when the score of a game is within five points during the final five minutes. In so many ways, Thursday’s loss was just a microcosm of the same general story of the year for the Warriors. They played well in the first half, got up by as many as 14 early in the third quarter, and then let things slip away thanks to 20 turnovers and spotty offensive execution in the second half.
“We’re not making winning plays,” frustrated Warriors forward Draymond Green said. “We got to make winning plays.
Green, who is usually very talkative win or lose (even more retrospective after losses), was quiet and short with his words as he sat at the same podium and tried to explain why the Warriors let another winnable game slip through their fingertips. He started at the box score trying to find clues. He was frustrated by the fact that he had five turnovers (which gives him 13 in the last two games combined after returning to the lineup after missing a week and a half because of a foot injury and a team-excused absence). Warriors coach Steve Kerr noted that he felt Green was “trying too hard to make plays” because of his competitive spirit, and Green said he was going to stop second guessing himself on the passes he did throw.
As a group, why did he think the Warriors continue to have such a problem with turnovers? The Warriors had 20. The Suns scored 30 points off the those turnovers. Like Curry, he didn’t have a clear cut answer.
“I don’t know,” Green said. “If I had the answers, I’d change it.”
The fact that the Warriors were even in the game late and had a chance to win is impressive and shows the team continues to at least play hard til the end of games. Down 96-91 points with 38.3 seconds left, the Warriors went through one of the more chaotic sequences of the year. Suns swingman Dillon Brooks was called for a flagrant one foul after popping Curry in the stomach after a Curry shot attempt. Curry hit two foul shots and Warriors swingman Jimmy Butler hit a three to tie the game at 96. Suns All-Star Devin Booker came down the floor and knocked down a jumper to make it 98-96, Curry made two free throws with 21.7 seconds left to tie it at 98.
Then things somehow got even wilder.
After Brooks missed a 28-foot three pointer with 2.2 seconds left, a wild scramble under the basket ensued. Suns guard Jordan Goodwin came up with the ball and Warriors swingman Moses Moody was called for a foul. The call came so close to the final buzzer in regulation that the officials had to go to the monitor to check and see if there was time left. There was — 0.4 seconds left on the clock. It was a foul that Kerr couldn’t believe was called at that point in the game.
“It’s hard to believe that the game was decided on that call,” Kerr said. “On an airball that hits the side of the backboard. And guys behind the bench told me that Moses (Moody) got all ball. Everybody’s tangled up. To me, it better be a foul to decide the game on a play like that. So, disappointing that we didn’t get to go to overtime because I thought our guys executed and did a great job in the last few minutes of giving ourselves a chance.”
Curry, matter of factly, broke down his perspective of the final 38.3 seconds.
“It was wild,” Curry said. “Back and forth. I think the fact that we were down five, that play happened, which was bush league, but took advantage ot it. Jimmy hits a big three. Book comes down and hits a tough shot, I get to the free throw line on the other end and then last possession we had a great stop, just the ball bounced a tough way.
“And there was a fight for it and we fouled. We were out of challenges. Again, that’s the idea of you don’t want to be in that situation without the ball last possession, and we did enough I think throughout the game to not be in that position but it’s never easy to pull yourself out of a hole and we’re feeling that right now, so we got to keep pushing.”
Both Steve Kerr and his players are at a loss to explain the Warriors’ poor run. (Mark J. Rebilas / Imagn Images)
Like Curry and Green, Kerr doesn’t know exactly what the fix is for his reeling team. He’s tinkered with the lineups, he’s put players in and out of the rotation. He’s tried everything he can think of and it’s still not working for a team that has now lost 10 of its last 14 games. The one thing that Kerr didn’t like in particular on Thursday besides the turnovers was the fact that he felt his group had bad body language in the second half.
“I thought we let our shoulders drop a little bit,” Kerr said. “Energy, spirit, let ourselves feel sorry for ourselves a little bit when they made their run. I’m really proud of the guys, the way they fought, and gave ourselves a chance, but we’ve just got to be sharper. 20 turnovers for 30 points. So we’ve got to be sharper with the ball. We’ve got to be better with our body language and our energy.”
One of the only positives in Thursday’s game for the Warriors was the renewed engagement of Butler on the offensive end. The former All-Star went 11-for-17 from the field and finished with 31 points. It was much needed for the Warriors, especially on a night when Curry was off from the field.
“It was just Jimmy being demonstrative out there,” Kerr said. “This is vintage Jimmy. 8-for-9 from the line, 11-for-17 (from the field), attacking, moving the ball at the right time, he was brilliant out there.”
Kerr noted that over the last few days, the Warriors had a couple film sessions and practices to remind the group of how it played together in the final months of the regular season last year.
“Just kind of remind the guys how we played down the stretch last year after we traded for Jimmy,” Kerr said. “How he controlled games. When he’s got the ball we generally take care of it. We don’t turn it over when he’s got it. So that was the main focus the last couple of days. Let’s just remember what our team is built on and how we need to play.”
The Warriors did that in different spots on Thursday night, but once again they didn’t do it consistently enough to pull out a win. The most frustrating part for this proud team is that they don’t feel as if they are too far away from putting together the strong stretch they need in order to get back on track. But after yet another close loss to the Suns, Curry was left searching for a positive during one more night when there weren’t many to go around.
“I do like the fact that it’s challenging us and giving us a sense of urgency,” Curry said of the Warriors’ recurring struggles. “Some years you learn these lessons while you’re winning and then it catches up to you. But if we’re going to do anything relevant this year, feeling this pain right now and searching a little bit could be a good thing if we do something about it so that’s the moment we’re in right now.”