Why Warriors' poor third quarter in loss to Rockets is teaching moment

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There was a moment in the third quarter of the Warriors' 129-112 loss Wednesday night when Steve Kerr couldn’t take it anymore. The Golden State coach was furious. Not break-a-clipboard angry, but irate enough to call a very purposeful timeout.

The Warriors had gone astray from their principles and awry from their plan. Down by 11 to Houston at the half, they played the first five minutes of the third quarter as if it were a G League tryout in Stockton, individuals going rogue. Hero ball.

Rather than crisp and frequent ball movement, there was considerable one-on-one action, too much dribbling into traffic and too many shots forced into a hive of Rockets defenders. The result was four turnovers, zero assists and the deficit growing to 23, 83-60, in fewer than six minutes.

So, with 6:43 left in the third quarter, Kerr requested the company of his team. Though he didn’t disclose his message, it could be found in his postgame comments.

“Overall, I didn’t like our shot selection as a team tonight,” he told reporters in Houston. “I didn’t think we played for each other. That’s the whole team I’m talking about. We were driving to try to score instead of driving to try to move the ball to someone on your team who can make the next play.

“Against Houston, with all their switching, you have to do that. You have to be able to rely on your teammates because they’re really good defensively on the first exchange, the first move, the first pick-and-roll. If you keep moving it, you can get an opening. But we didn’t really explore that enough.”

Fifteen seconds later, the Warriors got their first assist of the second half. They added three more over the next three minutes, with only one turnover. After Damion Lee swished a triple off a pass from Ky Bowman, they were back within 10, 87-77, with 3:39 left in the quarter.

There was no victory, as the Warriors trudged out of Toyota Center with their sixth loss in eight games.

There was, however, something the young Warriors can take into the next game and the many to come: The only way they can be at their best is as a unit.

It’s a simple lesson, one they’ve heard before and often apply. But the opening minutes of the third quarter was clear proof that NBA players sometimes neglect the obvious. Young players are particularly vulnerable to the trap of thinking they have to showcase themselves, which can lead to poor judgment and individual play, both of which are direct routes to sloppiness.

“That’s how we’ve been staying in games these past two games, playing together, playing hard and for each other,” Glenn Robinson III said. “It’s tough with a team like this, too, because they switch a lot. But we were trying to play a little iso ball and were throwing up a couple tough shots. We’ve got to continue to play together.”

After ringing up 28 assists in their encouraging win over Portland on Monday, the Warriors dropped to 22 against the Rockets. They had eight dimes in a strong first quarter, after which they trailed by one (30-29), but only 14 over the final three.

Which goes far to explain their 50-percent shooting in the first quarter, while they were at 36.1 percent the rest of the game.

There were times when rookie point guard Ky Bowman, trying to force the action, dribbled into trouble in the paint. He finished with four assists and three turnovers. Rookie guard Jordan Poole, a natural scoring searching for his offense, forced a couple of shots. Rookie forward Eric Paschall, sensational in the past two games, also went solo.

All three are, of course, eight games into their NBA careers. They’re probing their own potential, and sometimes it impacts the team.

“It’s a team dynamic,” Kerr said. “You’ve got to play with all five guys against those guys. But it’s something Ky has never done, and Jordan has never done, Eric’s never done.”

[RELATED: Zaza makes lofty comparison for Warriors rookie Paschall]

This is all new to the three rookies, and being Warriors is new to the other six available players. There will be nights like Wednesday, when good habits fade into bad, when the game becomes more difficult than it needs to be.

“We kind of got away from playing for each other, said center Omari Spellman, who contributed 13 points and seven rebounds, three assists and two steals. “We got a little selfish at times, driving for the iso instead of maybe driving to create for somebody else. Which is cool sometimes. But we tried to play Houston’s game better than Houston, and it’s not going to work.

“So, let’s go back to the drawing board, pick ourselves up and be ready for Minnesota.”

That’s the lesson they were taught, the one they heard and will see when they study video. The goal is to apply it consistently, which is a lot to ask of these Warriors but nonetheless essential to success.

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