SAN FRANCISCO – Shortly after the Warriors won Game 5 in Sacramento to put themselves on the brink of winning their first-round NBA playoff series over the Kings, coach Steve Kerr made a statement he surely wanted the team to digest.
“Closeout games are always incredibly difficult,” Kerr said Wednesday night from the podium at Golden 1 Center. “So, we’re not of that (got it made) feeling. We know that we have to go out and get it done. And we do feel like we know what we have to do. It’s no secret: Take care of the ball and rebound.”
The Warriors responded in Game 6 on Friday by not doing enough of either.
They gifted the Kings 23 points off 18 turnovers, were outrebounded 53-42 and trudged into the locker room with a richly deserved 118-99 loss at Chase Center that forces a third bus trip to Sacramento for Game 7 on Sunday.
“The Kings were the aggressor from the start, putting a lot of pressure on us defensively and we didn't execute early in the game,” Kerr said. “There were four or five plays early where we just took quick shots or didn't pass the ball to the open guy . . . at halftime we had eight assists. We just never got our rhythm. We never got into our game.
“But I give Sacramento the credit for that. They came out with more force and more energy, and they executed better. The right team won, that's for sure.”
All things considered – good health, veil of invincibility at Chase, aware a victory would allow for a three-day break either before or during the next round – this was the season’s most devastating home loss to the spirit.
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“When I said that was the best win of the season, after Game 5,” Klay Thompson said, “this is probably the worst loss of the season.”
It also was the most lopsided home loss of the season.
Blame was thick enough to spray throughout the locker room. Stephen Curry scored a game-high 29 points but committed five turnovers and was minus-16. Thompson scored 22 points but lamented his three turnovers and was minus-28. Draymond Green was reasonably steady but gripped by foul trouble. Jordan Poole shot 2-of-11 often and continues his tendency to dribble into the teeth of a defense, with disastrous results.
“We always say, we win together, we lose together,” Kerr said. “And this was a team effort. That includes players and coaches. The Kings outplayed us, outcoached us and deserved to win.”
Golden State’s approach to Game 6 dispelled any notion that consecutive wins in Games 3, 4 and 5 represented a breakthrough for a team that spent the regular season fighting its own best interests. The fabled “championship DNA,” so evident in Game 5, vanished in a heap of despair under the withering assault of the unrelenting Kings.
This activity on the court was an accurate distillation of the 2022-23 Warriors at their maddening worst, from puzzling decisions to neglecting fundamentals to astonishing defensive lapses to occasional failing to concentrate on the moment.
“We didn't execute the things that we know we needed to do,” Kevon Looney said. “I felt we were playing hard, and we played with the right intention. But we didn't execute and have focus throughout the whole game.”
Inasmuch as that was the case in a game in which the Warriors could have sent the Kings into their offseason, this would seem troubling. Or at least cause for concern going into Game 7.
“A loss exposes a lot of things because, when you go look at the film you see where the improvements need to be made,” Curry said. “You've got to be honest with yourself regarding what it was. I felt like we were all on the same page (Thursday) when we were kind of preparing for the game and understanding what the task at hand was, just didn't do it.
“So, I'm not concerned at all. It's just the playoffs presents a lot of challenges and a lot of different scenarios you find yourself in, and you know, the great teams figure it out.”
The Warriors managed only 20 assists, a sign that their offense went astray from their most effective strategy. They were pounded in the second half, unable to keep De’Aaron Fox, Malik Monk and Kevin Huerter – who combined for 44 of their 68 points after halftime – from spreading the floor and scorching the nets.
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The Warriors of this season were dreadful about as often as they were great. This game displayed the dark side, with most of the reasons the defending champs were unable to secure a playoff berth until the last day of the regular season.
They have one more game to pull it together and no one on the planet can began to know what to expect.