Aloha,
Well that was ugly. I didn’t believe we would win this game. The Warriors are great at home and their backs were against the wall. It was the way we lost that was disturbing. You just can not be out hustled in a close out game and expect to win. And you can’t be this sloppy and expect to win. While we would have stretches where we played well, those stretches we bookend by unforgivable play.
We opened the game sloppy and ended the first half sloppy. Each team had the same amount of turnovers yet it seems all of ours resulted in an uncontested fast break scores. I think the game was lost there. We just were not getting back on defense.
Even with the poor play, we were still within striking distance when AD got clocked in the head. The good news is that it wasn’t a concussion and he will play Friday.
I don’t think we can win again in SF, so we have to come out Friday and play with the same energy that the Warriors played with yesterday. If we cut down on the hustle points I think we can win this game. One of the big head scratchers of this season is how poorly the Warriors have played on the road. But this isn’t an immature team with their backs to the wall like the Grizzlies. The Warriors are champions for a reason and will continue to to play hard. When you look back at this game we were not out talented. The reasons we lost are correctable. We just need to match that energy and cut down on our unforced turnovers. Energy, not talent will decide this series.
Michael, you are absolutely correct in your post. You said everything I needed to say. We lost this game in the first half. 70 points in the half will be hard to overcome on the road, especially against the defending champions. I still believe we will win the series but it better be tomorrow.