Three days after piecing together their finest win of the season, the Warriors hurtled toward their ugliest defeat Tuesday night.
Denver started out the game on a 10-0 run before finishing the first quarter on a 13-0 spurt. The Warriors had just 36 points at halftime, their lowest-scoring half of the season. Draymond Green spent his first game sidelined in the NBA’s health and safety protocols, and the Warriors looked disjoined. A Steph Curry body double must have slipped into a No. 30 jersey, because he had two points and four turnovers at the intermission.
Then the second half happened and the Warriors started creeping closer. The shots stopped falling for the Nuggets. The threes started splashing for Steph Curry. The trifecta he hit at the end of the third quarter was the first of the game but the 3,000th of his career, making him the first player in NBA history to reach the plateau.
The Chase Center crowd snapped from its coma and roared as Curry started catching fire from beyond the arc. Gary Payton II ultimately tied the game with 1:04 left on a dunk as the game reached fever pitch, but rookie Jonathan Kuminga’s last-second layup attempt was thwarted.
While the comeback attempt was worth applauding, the Warriors ultimately lost 89-86 and lamented missed opportunities in the postgame press conference.
“We just came out flat. We sucked in the first half,” said Juan Toscano-Anderson. “That’s the fact of the matter and there’s no way around it. We know that. We understand that. We went into the locker room at halftime, made adjustments. We just dug ourselves a hole too deep to get out of.”
As bad as the Warriors played in the first half, the contest was still winnable. But Golden State shot just 16-of-31 at the free-throw line and committed 17 turnovers.
“That’s gonna bother me all night,” Toscano-Anderson said of going 1-for-6 from the free-throw line. “But one thing I’m learning, it’s a long season and we got a game in two days. I just learn to let stuff go now. I’ll come in tomorrow shoot 100 free throws, 500 free throws, whatever, and try to be better. … We kinda shot ourselves in the foot. Missing free throws, turnovers and then just a flat first half. It’s hard to win in the NBA like that against any team.”
Curry said he was proud of the way the Warriors responded at the break, though.
“It all kind of went wrong in the first half, but I love the way we fought because pretty sure we’re not a moral victory team," Curry said. "But 29 other teams probably would’ve laid down and died."
Nuggets big man Nikola Jokic and even Jeff Green bullied the Warriors at times – exposing holes where Green used to fill. In fact, 6-foot-3 Gary Payton II even had to guard Jokic on a couple possessions.
“It was fun,” Payton said. “He kinda looked at me and was, like, ‘You’re guarding me?’”
Jokic finished with 22 points, 18 rebounds, five assists and four steals.
Draymond’s absence was also felt immensely on offense. Green is something of a point forward in coach Steve Kerr’s offense, which felt discombobulated without him pulling the strings. Payton said Green’s playmaking from the top of the key was also sorely missed.
“Of course him and Steph have their bond and what Steph does, setting screens, getting people open,” Payton said. “Draymond sees everything and he really makes a big difference up there, controlling and running the show for us.”
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The Warriors ratcheted up the intensity in the second half and limited the Nuggets to just 29 points but still lost, as Otto Porter Jr. was held scoreless and Andre Iguodala only contributed one point in their combined 50 minutes.
Golden State has a minimum of two more games without their glue guy, Green, starting with Thursday’s rematch. JTA got the start in Draymond's place and will have to keep doing his best Green impression.
“It does require an adjustment,” Toscano-Anderson said. “He is an undeniable talent defensively and he’s the brains, for the most part, offensively. Like I said, those are big shoes to fill, but they’re not impossible. I could have been better tonight. I could have brought more energy, but I didn’t. I could have talked more. Hindsight 20/20. I’ll try to be better next game.”
Kerr added that Green’s absence isn’t an excuse.
“Obviously, we’re going to miss Draymond,” Kerr said. “He’s one of the best players in the league, but Denver’s without half their team due to injuries and everything else. The whole league’s missing people. We just have to get better in terms of our offensive execution when Draymond is out.”
Starting shooting guard Jordan Poole could return Thursday after missing the five games in NBA’s health and safety protocols, and sitting Tuesday as he rebuilds his conditioning.
