Homecoming Warriors go ice cold, give away game to Mavericks

Ten points. The Warriors scored just 10 points over the final 10 minutes of Sunday’s baffling 107-101 loss to the Dallas Mavericks.

Golden State (43-18) went over eight straight minutes without a field goal, and let what looked like an uninterested Mavericks (36-25) team stage an embarrassing comeback.

The Warriors, and especially Stephen Curry, looked rejuvenated after the All-Star break.

They were running teams off the court and looked like the dominant team we saw the first months of the season.

That lasted all of seven quarters though. And it wasn’t the usual high turnovers or dumb fouls that cost the Warriors this game, they just couldn’t generate any good scoring looks.

Kevon Looney said everyone is more mad at themselves after a game like this:

I think everybody’s just pissed off, it ain’t much that needs to be said…I think we all kind of know what happened, know where we fell short.”

They also stopped attacking like they do when they’re at their most dangerous. Oh, and their defense turned into a turnstile.

Steve Kerr said he didn’t love the energy from anyone on the team:

I thought we lost our spirit and our energy when they made that push…We did not maintain our grit coming down the stretch. I thought we just kind of let the momentum get away from us… It’s a good lesson for us, NBA games turn on a dime.

Jason Kidd and the Mavericks went all offense when they subbed in Davis Bertans at center for a majority of the fourth quarter and the Warriors treated him like he was prime Bill Russell patrolling the paint.

They didn’t put him in any pick-and-rolls, didn’t attack him at the rim, they settled for a gang of jumpers that all clanged off the rim.

And on the opposite end of the court, the slow-footed Bertans blew by any Warriors defender with ease. So, it was really no contest when Spencer Dinwiddie would attack.

It looked like the Warriors feet were glued to the floor, at the point of attack and in the help.

Kerr said the defensive breakdowns bled into the other side of the court:

Our defense kind of broke down and then we let that affect our offense. We have to learn from that and grow from that for sure.”

None a more obvious offender than Andrew Wiggins, who fresh from transforming himself into a first-time All-Star, reverted to Minnesota Wiggins, refusing to even look at the key and throwing up a litany of step back jumpers, while also providing zero defensive effort.

He wasn’t the only one who looked like they forgot everything they had learned before the break.

Jonathan Kuminga looked lost for a majority of the game, regressing to the teenager who tries to do too much every time he touched the ball.

He had four turnovers and five personal fouls and played just 17 minutes, his lowest amount of court time in over a month.

Kerr said it was a rough night for Kuminga, but it’s something he has to go through to get better:

He let the slow start affect him, that’s what it looked like to me. He picked up some early fouls, he took a couple quick shots right when he got out there, and nothing was going his way. And then that affected his defense. He’s a rookie, these are all lessons, that’s why he has to go through this.”

Jordan Poole, who got the start for an ill Klay Thompson, also looked out of sorts. He finished 0-for-7 from the field, and couldn’t hit even the most wide-open jumpers.

Poole is the one who the Warriors count on to supply them with offense, especially when Thompson isn’t available.

They need his quick-twitch attacks to make something happen for a team that routinely plays a bunch of non-shot creators.

But he couldn’t do that Sunday, which means the Warriors as a team couldn’t do it, particularly because the Mavericks employed their double Curry strategy all night.

Curry carved that defense up for three quarters though as for the second game in a row he showed off his passing acumen.

He piled up 14 assists against the Blazers Thursday and added 10 more against Dallas. He was making all the right reads, finding rollers and slips with ease.

He continued to make all those same reads late, but his teammates let him down, bricking shot after shot in the end.

Up Next

The Warriors get just the one game at home before traveling on a four-game road trip. They’ll take on the Minnesota Timberwolves (32-29), who always seem to give the Warriors issues, Tuesday night.

Notes

This loss snaps the streak of 62 straight games that the Warriors have won when they have at least a 20-point lead. … Along with Curry about the only player who looked invigorated after the break was Kevon Looney. The big man had eight points, 10 boards, five assists and three steals.

Curtis Uemura is SFBay’s Golden State Warriors beat writer. Follow @SFBay and @CUemura on Twitter and at SFBay.ca for full coverage of Warriors basketball.