SAN FRANCISCO – The Warriors often talk about building good habits and generating momentum while approaching the NBA play-in tournament, but Friday night was the latest instance in which their bad habits have been too stubborn to leave.
Having frittered away a 12-point halftime lead during a brutal third quarter, the Warriors went into the fourth down by two to the Washington Wizards, who had lost 16 of their last 17 games and, thankfully for the Warriors, are cool to the notion of slowing their rocket to the NBA draft lottery.
There they were, two teams missing their top two players, traipsing through the final 12 minutes before the war of the woeful was won by the team sure to play beyond the regular season.
Down by five (111-106) with 6:18 remaining, the Warriors went on an 16-2 run that spurred a 131-126 victory, their third in a row, before a sellout crowd too polite to boo moments that invited it but summoned rousing cheers down the stretch.
“First half, I saw focus offensively, simple decisions,” coach Steve Kerr said. “And then I thought we let our guard down defensively in the second quarter. A couple back-cut layups, some poor transition, missed communication on switches.
“There was good and bad tonight, but I like the way we closed the game and had a lot of good individual performances.”
The cleanest and most efficient of those performances came from Gui Santos, who scored 27 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field, including 3 of 5 from deep while splashing 8 of 9 from the line. Kristaps Porziņģis continue to lurch toward impact status, producing a team-high 28 points on 9-of-17 shooting, including 5 of 11 from distance, while grabbing eight rebounds. Brandin Podziemski delivered 22 points, a team-high 10 rebounds and seven assists.
The Warriors’ three-game win streak was built on wins over teams waving white flags big enough to cover Chase Center. This was the Warriors’ second consecutive “clutch” game against an opponent with no incentive to win. Two nights after the lottery-bound Brooklyn Nets sat three starters in the fourth the quarter to welcome defeat, Washington followed the same script.
Oh, but here comes the heat, three consecutive opponents bound for the NBA playoffs, all fighting to gain favorable position.
The Warriors fly to Denver on Saturday to face the Nuggets on Sunday, return home to face the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday and then greet the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday.
The only way Nikola Jokić or Jamal Murray or Victor Wembanyama or Donovan Mitchell are sitting in the fourth quarter is if they’ve already blown the Warriors off the floor – which is a distinct possibility if they donate more quarters like the third against the Wizards, who, aided by six Golden State turnovers, posted a 34-20 advantage.
“We just got to slow down,” Santos said. “We need to play fast, move the ball fast, but at the same time stay under control. When we drive, when we get into the into the paint, we’ve got to just stop with two feet.”
The Warriors showed signs of improvement in the first quarter, leading by as much as 16 points. They accomplished this by shooting 50 percent from the field, including 46.7 percent beyond the arc – and not committing a single turnover.
That had to be encouraging for Golden State, which had committed 97 turnovers in its previous four games.
But the Wizards (17-56) understood the assignment, which allowed the Warriors opportunities to overcome the worst of themselves.
Those bad habits will be their undoing if they aren’t broken. Their desire to climb above 10th place in the Western Conference surely will be sabotaged if they help teams that don’t need it.
“We’re getting there,” Podziemski said. “We’re showing flashes of good and bad. Fortunately, we got to do it against Brooklyn and Washington in these last two games.
“But we’ll see what we’ve got come Sunday.”
Stephen Curry won’t make it to Denver. He’ll stay in the Bay Area, working with medical/performance chief Rick Celebrini in hopes of being ready by Wednesday or Thursday.
Curry’s arrival won’t matter much by then unless the Warriors catch some of the good habits that they insist they are chasing.
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