Warriors blow another big lead late, fall to Nuggets, 119-115

Golden State ran into their Achilles heel once again: A double-digit lead in the final quarter.

After the Golden State Warriors won their first-round series over the Denver Nuggets in 2022, three-time MVP Nikola Jokic has been merciless, winning the next seven straight against the Dubs. It looked like the Warriors were going to break that streak when they pulled ahead in the fourth quarter, but once again, a double-digit lead became a harbinger of doom as the Nuggets came back to win, 119-115.

The Nuggets ended the game on a 21-6 run and held the Warriors scoreless in the final 2:32 in another gut-punch loss. They had a chance in the final seconds when Steph Curry rescued the rebound after Jokic blocked Jonathan Kuminga, but Andrew Wiggins slipped and lost the ball, and Jokic hit two free throws to seal it.

Jokic finished with 38 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and five steals. He hit three of four from three-point range and ended up +23 in 40 minutes, meaning in the eight minutes The Joker sat, the Warriors outscored the Nuggets by a whopping 19 points.

That explains why the Nuggets crushed the Warriors at the end of halves. In the second quarter, the Warriors got out to a 12-point lead halfway through the quarter. Then Jokic asserted himself. In the final 4:12, Jokic scored nine points, got three rebounds and a steal, and got two assists, which went for a Jamal Murray three-pointer and a Christian Braun three-point play.

In the fourth, Jokic took over at almost the same spot. In the game’s last 4:22, Jokic scored nine points, blocked a shot, and added a rebound and an assist. His assist total was deceptively low because multiple Jokic dimes led directly to shooting fouls. After Curry scored the Warriors’ final points to give them a 115-109 lead, Jokic immediately answered, getting a switch onto Buddy Hield and scoring.

Near the end of the game, the officials missed a call on Christian Braun, when the Nuggets guard grabbed a long rebound and tried to call timeout. Only, the Nuggets didn’t have one. It could have been a technical foul, which would have given Golden State a free throw and possession of the ball with 2.1 seconds left. Instead, Andrew Wiggins forced a held ball, which led to a meaningless jump ball with the Warriors down four.

After the game, Kerr let his displeasure be heard.

“Braun called a timeout,” Kerr told reporter. “Everyone saw it except the three guys we hire to do games. That makes me angry. That’s a technical foul. They don’t have a timeout left. Technical foul, we shoot a free throw, we get the ball, get a chance to win the game.”

While it seemed like an egregious missed call, it did only give the Warriors a chance at a tie. Considering how they’ve struggled to score with a full 24-second clock late in games recently, it was by no means likely they’d make it to overtime. Especially since Jokic would presumably be playing and destroying the Warriors in the extra period as well.

Golden State has now lost five games in a row, blowing large second-half leads in three of those games. Opponents seem to shut down the Warriors offense by negating Curry, even in a game where the Warriors had 36 assists. Curry had 11 of them to go with his 24 points, while Kyle Anderson and Kevon Looney each had five (Looney also had 11 rebounds, four offensive).

For Denver, Braun had 11, Jamal Murray had 12 points and eight assists, while Aaron Gordon put up 15 points, nine rebounds, and five assists. The Warriors seemed to be trying to make Jokic a scorer and not be able to get his teammates involved, but they went back to overhelping and doubling Jokic in crunch time, which led to easy buckets and free throws.

In the first quarter, Kuminga and Podziemski rewarded Kerr for putting them in the starting lineup with Green out, by scoring the team’s first 16 points and 18 of their first 20. They were the only Warriors to make a field goal until Kyle Anderson his a shot nine minutes into the game. With Steph Curry starting slowly, mainly due to drawing a disproportionate amount of defensive attention, they needed the young players’ scoring, though Curry had four assists before hitting two shots late in the quarter to get the Warriors to 33-31 at the break.

The second quarter occurred in two halves: One with Jokic on the court, and one off. A big lead disappeared, the Warriors couldn’t stop fouling, and Jokic kept finding his teammates for wide-open shots.

The encouraging part of the game was Kerr finally cutting down his rotation to a manageable number of players. Pat Spencer and Lindy Waters III barely saw the floor, which is not coincidental to the Warriors hanging with a good team like the Nuggets. The team may be desperate for ball handlers, so don’t be surprised if the recently-released Lester Quinones returns to Santa Cruz — and perhaps retakes a two-way spot.

Since the Warriors still won their group in the NBA Cup, they’ll advance to the quarterfinals, but lost their chance at a home game. Instead, they’ll face the Group C champion Houston Rockets on the road, while the West’s top Cup team, the +46 Oklahoma City Thunder, host the Dallas Mavericks.

We’ll get a preview of that matchup when the 15-7 Rockets visit the Chase Center Thursday. As long as the Warriors can keep their rotation tight and the referees actually notice uncalled timeouts, it may be their chance to break their losing streak. Just as long as they don’t take a big lead late.