If Steve Kerr was tired of the “play the kids” drumbeat before Thursday night, he’ll need a lot more than an aspirin to get through Friday.
On the list of embarrassing, self-destructive, and downright innovative ways to lose over the last decade, the Warriors’ 130-127 collapse to the Nuggets makes a strong case to be on the team’s Mount Rushmore. It was the pinnacle of late-game putridity.
It featured a 25-4 Nuggets run in the final 6:34, capped off by a game-winning bank-shot that Nikola Jokic heaved from the scorer's table. The loss marks the fourth time this season the Warriors (16-18, 11th in West) have blown an 18-point lead.
Stephen Curry, who looked like his third-quarter vintage self (30 points and 10 3rd-quarter points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal, 1 block), evaporated in the fourth. He looked tired, like a 35-year-old superstar who was fighting around screens and pressure all night. He didn’t quite have the juice left in his legs to muster the magic we always expect him to produce.
Instead, he found himself on the receiving end of the sort of half-court, game-winner that he has made a career out of.
Jokic, who had 34 points (13-of-16, made both 3s) 9 rebounds and 10 assists, left Curry dumbfounded, along with a Chase Center crowd left wondering if this is the new normal.
Curry had to sit with the knowledge that he choked, in a way he almost never does. With a chance to take the final shot - or at least the penultimate one - he instead whipped a mind-boggling, cross-body pass to Jamal Murray. It ranks solidly as one of the least clutch moments of his career.
While Curry crumbled (7 points, 2-of-7 in 4th quarter) and Klay Thompson disappeared (2 points, 1-of-4, missed his only 3-pointer in 4th), the team’s third-leading scorer, Jonathan Kuminga, sat, conspicuously, on the bench.
It was one of Kuminga's most efficient performances of the season, and the 14th-straight double-digit scoring game for him. For his efforts, he was rewarded with courtside seats to his team’s implosion.
Kerr’s benching of Kuminga in the fourth quarter (with Moses Moody not playing a second in the game) as the Warriors blew an 18-point lead inside seven minutes must make him reconsider his approach.
At best, the level of lineup rigidity was concerning. The late-game substitution patterns felt desperate, crying out for help to anyone but Kuminga or Moody.
Golden State looked tired and old when it mattered.
On the youth front, Kerr gave Brandin Podziemski (28 minutes) plenty of run and was rewarded (13 points, 5-of-10 and 3-of-4 from deep, 2 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal), and he injected Trayce Jackson-Davis late. The latter scored two of the team's four points in the final 6:50 on a roll to the rim.
But he otherwise stuck with Andrew Wiggins and the vets. If Curry, Thompson (who played all 12 minutes in the fourth), or anyone else had a couple scores, we wouldn’t be having this conversation, at least with this level of urgency.
But the point is that no one was coming to save the day. It was evident that the vets had run out of steam.
Here was Kerr’s explanation on why he stuck with Wiggins, and left Kuminga sidelined:
“[Kuminga] was playing great," Kerr said. "His normal time to go back in would have been around the 5-6 minute mark and Wiggs was playing great and we were rolling, we're up 18, 19 whatever it was.
So we just stayed with [Wiggins]. Then at that point, it didn't feel like it was the right thing to do. [Kuminga] had been sitting for a while, so I stayed with the group that was out there. Obviously we couldn't close it out."
The notion that sitting for a while is a disqualifier to returning to the game is silly. Kerr has injected players into key situations late in games multiple times. He did it with Moody against the Sacramento Kings last year in the playoffs.
To believe Kuminga or Moody couldn't have come in for a couple minutes and offered something of value - a rebound, a steal, a score, a run in transition that created space - in a moment demanding energy, is worrisome. At the very least, it is explicitly conservative in a way that the modern NBA does not tend to reward.
Kuminga played just 19 minutes, the fewest of the nine Warriors players to see the floor. He sat the final 18, starting at the 5:48 mark in the third quarter. In his 19 minutes, Kuminga accomplished the following:
- 16 points (3rd-most)
- 5-of-7 shooting (same as Dario Saric, tied for Warriors’ best shooting percentage among players with at least 5 attempts)
- 4 rebounds (T-2nd-most)
- 4 assists (5th-most)
- +6 (Best on Warriors)
Let's limit the discussion to Kuminga vs. Wiggins. Wiggins was quiet for the first half, but to Kerr's credit, he had an impressive third- and early fourth-quarter stretch.
That was before he struggled in the heart of the fourth and was benched for Dario Saric following a Nuggets offensive rebound and trip to the free throw line given to Aaron Gordon.
Wiggins was a team-worst -14, finishing with 11 points (5-of-10, 1-of-4 from 3-point range) and 3 rebounds in 27 minutes.
He has obviously proven himself as a prolific defender. That said, the results in that regard weren’t there, and he wasn't rebounding assertively on either end.
Here’s how he and Kuminga compared in offensive (points scored per 100 possessions) and defensive rating (points scored per 100 possessions):
Andrew Wiggins
Offensive rating: 110.7 (worst on team)
Defensive rating: 140.7
Net rating: -30 (worst on team by far, second was Klay Thompson at -13.0)
Jonathan Kuminga
Offensive rating: 160.5 (highest on team, Kevon Looney second at 152.5)
Defensive rating: 141.0
Net rating: 19.5 (best on team, only positive player besides Dario Saric at 4.1)
The decision to keep Kuminga sidelined bit Kerr, and the Warriors, in a loss that feels like a challenge of their character. This is an existential crisis.
Is Golden State even a playoff team anymore? Are they even a play-in team? Who are they supposed to be? Are they really about to waste one of the final elite years of Stephen Curry on a middling season? Is the plan just to wait out Thompson and Chris Paul's expiring contracts?
If you have the answers to these questions, please call (888) 957-9570. Then call Kerr and Mike Dunleavy Jr.
Yes, the Nuggets are excellent. They are clearly a level above the Warriors, and look every bit like a reigning champion serious about a repeat.
But to fold - nay - snap like a rusty lawnchair on national television? That demands introspection and alteration.
Maybe Draymond Green coming back suddenly becomes a welcome sight for the Warriors. As exhausted - rightfully - as everyone is with him, it’s hard to fathom this team going down in such a spineless fashion with him on the floor.
Obviously, though, Green alone is not the answer.
Maybe trades are in order, though the Warriors only have a few enticing pieces they might be willing to move, and some hard-to-move contracts available to try and get any deal done.
Does someone like Pascal Siakam move the needle? Meh.
For now, it’s clear the vets need help. The team needs energy, and confidence from its head coach, to sustain itself.
“Play the kids” isn’t the only answer, but the Warriors don’t seem to have many other options at their disposal. And for the record, Kerr is giving plenty of minutes to Podziemski and Jackson-Davis.
But you can feel the lack of trust for Kuminga and Moody. And if we can sense that, so can they.
You could hear it in Kuminga's comments last week about being confused on what is being asked of him, and "making sure my OGs get the ball," instead of playing in rhythm. That dynastic backbone is crumbling and it's not clear that a new foundation is being built solidly enough to support it.
For now, the Warriors need to avoid back-to-back embarrassments. They have an opportunity Friday, against the worst team in the NBA -- featuring a James Wiseman homecoming that will place a glaring spotlight on youth -- with some tired, veteran legs. That seems as good a prompt as any to utilize young talent to get them back on the right track.