The Warriors let another big lead slip away and were defeated by the Mavericks

The Warriors let another big lead: Golden State drove by upwards of 21 places in the initial 44 minutes of the guideline, yet couldn’t hang on against Dallas.

SAN FRANCISCO — The Warriors’ first game back from the All-Star break was impressive, to be sure, but a 37-point victory over woeful Portland left Stephen Curry with questions.

A Warriors team that played without Klay Thompson (illness) against a true playoff contender on Sunday night demonstrated why recent concerns should not have been dismissed so quickly.

The Warriors (43-18) led the Mavericks (36-25) for the first 44 minutes of regulation, but Dallas rallied from a 21-point deficit to defeat them 107-101, their largest regular-season collapse in 14 seasons.

The loss was also the Warriors’ second in three games in which they allowed a double-digit second-half lead to evaporate.

Sunday reminded fans of the team’s last home game, a loss in which the Warriors led until the final 13 seconds, as Golden State allowed Dallas to chip away at a 19-point fourth-quarter lead and never recovered, the largest fourth-quarter lead lost in the NBA this season.

“I thought we lost our spirit and energy when they made that push,” said head coach Steve Kerr.

The Warriors shot 5 for 21 from the field in the fourth quarter and had only one point for an eight-minute stretch (9:44-1:30), allowing 26 to Dallas.

This is what Curry meant when he said, “We’ll see,” after the Portland game when asked if the Warriors had solved all of their problems. Curry stated that the Mavericks “require a different level of focus and attention.”

That was there for about a half-day on Sunday. But not the entire game.

On Thursday, the Warriors jumped out to an early lead against the Trail Blazers and never looked back. Two playoff hopefuls have now shown the Warriors why they can’t take their foot off the gas in the two games that have followed that effort.

“I think going through it is actually beneficial,” Kerr said. “This is what it’s like to be in the playoffs.”

The Warriors stretched out their lead to 73-52 just shy of four minutes into the final part when Curry hit from 25 feet, one of his main three 3-pointers in a group driving 27-point execution.

The Mavericks had totally deleted it by the four-minute characteristic of the final quarter. Dorian Finney-Smith hit a 3-pointer to give Dallas a 95-94 lead, which the Warriors won’t ever recuperate from.

For more than two quarters, it gave the idea that the Warriors were en route to a second consecutive triumph.

For the 0.33 instant game, the Warriors’ protection got here out firing on all cylinders with Gary Payton II beginning in the location of the injured Draymond Green. The first of 15 Golden State steals got here from Payton and Kevon Looney, who disrupted the Mavericks’ first possessions. Four players — Looney (3), Payton (2), Curry (2), and Andrew Wiggins (2) — obtained a couple of awards.

They also only turned the ball over 10 times, continuing a positive trend that began before the All-Star break. Ball security was one thing that was going well even as Golden State lost four of five games. After Sunday, the Warriors had gone eight games without turning the ball over more than 15 times, averaging 11.5 turnovers per game during that time.

The Warriors, on the other hand, received far too little from anyone other than Curry.

Wiggins continued to miss free throws. He made three of his five attempts on Sunday, giving him a 41.2 percent success rate at the line in February.

Jordan Poole performed so ineffectively that Kerr picked finish of-the-pivot player Damion Lee over the third-year watch down the stretch. He made seven efforts and missed them all, and the subsequent unit, for which he is the essential playmaker, battled in that area also.

Nobody on the Warriors’ seat had a positive in addition to short while losing the fight for seat minutes for the most part to Spencer Dinwiddie, who the Mavericks gained when they exchanged Kristaps Porzingis at the exchange cutoff time and who tore up the Warriors’ guard for 24 focuses on 10-of-14 shooting on Sunday.

Dinwiddie led a Dallas effort that resulted in only the sixth game this season in which an opponent shot 50% or better from the field against Golden State, which could not stop Luka Doncic from long range. He made 9 of 11 3-point attempts and finished with 34 points to lead all scorers.

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The Warriors let another big lead: Who is to blame for the Warriors’ epic loss to the Mavericks?

SAN FRANCISCO — The Warriors were in complete command. They were on their way to a convincing victory against a top-tier opponent. With less than 10 minutes remaining, they had a 19-point lead over the Dallas Mavericks and a 99.3 percent chance of winning, according to ESPN.

And then it was all gone in an instant.

Golden State was defeated by a score of 107-101.

In a season filled with heartbreaking defeats, Sunday’s loss to Dallas was without a doubt the most harrowing.

The only point of contention is who is to blame for the incredible collapse.

And if we have to isolate a name, we can do so with Andrew Wiggins.

Only at those times did Draymond Green anchor the Warriors’ defense and control the offensive pace.

They didn’t have either on Sunday. Thompson was out due to illness, and Green is still recovering from a back injury.

As a result, when the Warriors began to lose confidence on offense and became a sieve in the fourth quarter on Sunday, things “snowballed,” according to Curry.

In total, the Warriors went more than eight minutes without making a field goal in the fourth quarter. Their 19-point lead was shattered by a 16-0 Dallas spurt to start the quarter, which turned into a 23-1 burst and, eventually, a 30-5 run.

Prior to Thompson’s return, the Warriors considered a number of candidates to serve as the Robin to Curry’s Batman. Of course, anyone would suffice. And quite often, someone would step forward and help.

Jordan Poole was there on some nights.

On the other hand, this was not the case on Sunday. Kerr took Poole out in the fourth quarter after he failed to make a field goal.

It was Otto Porter on certain evenings.

The veteran just endeavored four shots on Sunday.

Wiggins was typically the one to move forward. That is what the future holds Star spot this season.

Yet, it wasn’t his day on Sunday.

Presently, Wiggins got off to a quick beginning, shooting 4 of 5 from the field and scoring 11 focuses in the main quarter. He was an integral justification for why the Warriors leaped out to an important lead after the main quarter, laying the preparation for the remainder of the game. So the Warriors contemplated.

Notwithstanding, Wiggins went 3 of 11 from the field from that point onward, scoring seven focuses.

Worse, Wiggins was not attacking the basket, instead opting for a series of ill-advised step-back jumpers, even when the Mavericks had Davis Bertans at the center. Bertans, at 6-foot-10 and comically immobile, is only slightly heavier than Wiggins. There was no reason for the wing to be loitering around the perimeter.

Poole is 22 years old. Porter is signed to a veteran’s minimum contract. Losses can’t be blamed on guys like that.

No, the Warriors simply needed more from the All-Star in the final minutes of the game on Sunday.

He didn’t even come close to supplying.

Why didn’t Wiggins go for the basket before it was too late? Why was he acting so sluggishly on offense?

And what was up with him always leaving the strong-side wing open to collapse the paint?

We don’t know because Wiggins did not make himself available to the media and the Warriors’ locker room is still closed.

All we can do is speculate.

On a three-shot outing to the line right off the bat in the game, Wiggins missed two free tosses. He just endeavored two all the more free tosses from that point onward, the two of which he made.

This is the astounding conundrum of the ball. Whenever you’re not hitting 15-footers, an 18-foot jumper looks far better than a layup.

It’s a really beautiful and enchanting game. It’s a disgrace that it at times assumes a terrible misfortune to expose it.

No, the Warriors simply needed more from the All-Star in the final minutes of the game on Sunday.

He didn’t come close to providing.

Sunday was a night when Thompson’s importance was highlighted by his absence. The Dubs are in a good position when Wiggins is a third or fourth option. That role simply does not allow for the type of freelancing that we saw on Sunday. The ball is moving, and Wiggins is an excellent member of the Dubs’ system.

But when it comes time for him to be the Dubs’ No. 2, they’re temperamental and all-too-often passive on both ends. In this regard, they follow No. 22’s lead.

The dam could not have possibly broken on edge end had he been in the game. Furthermore, the Warriors are rarely aloof – on one or the flip side – while he’s managing everything.

Sunday was an obvious, excruciating update against a quality group that the Warriors are not a title group without both of those players.

Fortunately, Thompson’s nonappearance is just impermanent. Green should be back in half a month, giving him a lot of opportunities to plan for the end of the season games.

One more model from that example: Wiggins has been exceptional for the Warriors this season. He was a meriting All-Star, a positive power in this still-amazing group.

But he isn’t a completely different player. He’s just in a completely different situation than he’s ever been in.

Wiggins is essential for the Warriors to win a championship. He’s an important cog in this championship machine.

So long as he’s in the appropriate role.

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