It’s time to turn down the volume on the chatter surrounding the Warriors and their marvelous season and their chances of setting a record for wins in a season.
They lost a game Wednesday night almost by choice.
And yet it was the right call.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Bay Area and California sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
With forward Draymond Green, the NBA leader in triple-doubles, sitting in street clothes to rest his aching body, particularly a tender right ankle, the Warriors were mostly lackluster in a 112-110 loss to the Nuggets at Pepsi Center in Denver.
Only a late surge powered by Stephen Curry’s 20-point fourth quarter, putting the Warriors within range in the final minutes, kept this from being an utterly forgettable performance.
“I don’t think we played hard enough for the majority of the game,” interim Warriors coach Luke Walton said. “We gave a tremendous effort in the fourth quarter, certainly in the last half of the fourth quarter. We got back into the game and gave ourselves a chance to win which is what you try to do on the road in this league.
“For a championship team and for what we are trying to accomplish, we didn’t play hard enough and we definitely didn’t play smart enough for the majority of the game.”
Golden State Warriors
Find the latest Golden State Warriors news, highlights, analysis and more with NBC Sports Bay Area and California.
[POOLE: Instant Replay: Without Draymond, Warriors take third loss]
The Warriors (36-3) fell behind early, trailing by as much as 10 in the first quarter, and then caught up well enough to take a six-point lead (66-60) with 7:04 left in the third quarter.
Denver (15-24) then cranked it up, going on a 19-3 spurt that allowed them to close out the quarter with a 23-7 run. The Warriors missed 11 of their 14 shots during that stretch, while the Nuggets were making 6 of 11 and, moreover, draining all 10 of their free throws.
Denver in the game shot 37 free throws, making 33.
“We played decent defense,” Curry said, who finished with a game-high 38 points. “But obviously if we give them free throw attempts it slows the game down. And when they do miss and we give up offensive rebounds, we are not going to be very successful.”
For Curry, it was a tale of two games. His first, in the first three quarters, was atrocious by MVP standards: 18 points on 6-of-17 shooting, including 2-of-9 from 3-point distance. His nine assists were undermined by six turnovers. He was a minus-12 through his first 31 minutes.
His second game consisted of eight brilliant minutes in the fourth quarter, all but the final eight seconds. Curry in the final quarter scored 20 points on 7-of-8 shooting, making all three of his 3-point attempts.
The Warriors won the fourth quarter, 37-28, but it wasn’t enough. And Curry bollixed their best opportunity to go ahead late. Putting on one of his dazzling dribbling exhibitions in an attempt to get defender Danilo Gallinari off balance, Curry committed his eighth turnover.
“We showed a lot of fight and aggressiveness down the stretch,” Curry said. “But we spotted them too many points, like 10 going into the fourth quarter, which is tough coming back from on the road. We fought though.”
Most of that fight came late, as the Warriors clearly missed Green, the firebrand leader who single-handedly raises their effort level.
“Anytime you don’t have your whole team out there, you are going to miss that presence,” said forward Harrison Barnes, who put in 18 points. “But we have to do a better job as a team of just competing.
“There were opportunities there. No matter who was on the court, we just had to compete to get through that screen, run down the floor back in transition or to not turn the ball over. It is just little things like that can change the game.”
The Warriors have made it clear that their priority is not to win a record 73 games, or tie the 1995-96 Bulls standard of 72. Getting to 70 wins, they insist, would rank well below the general health of the team.
That strategy is sensible for a team with the single goal of winning a championship. It’s going to cost them a few games, like this one, and they don’t seem to mind.