The Golden State Warriors looked like they had the Sacramento Kings beat. They looked like a team poised to go to the knockout stage of the In-Season Tournament. Instead, they blew a 24-point lead, and then somehow inexplicably blew a 5-point lead in the final minute.
The Warriors’ collapse in the final minute against the Sacramento Kings was the shining example of their struggles this season. They haven’t been able to string together a great 48 minutes of basketball, despite the team playing an amazing first 24 minutes against the Kings.
After the game, Steph Curry was asked about the blown 24-point lead, and he gave a full recap of everything from his perspective.
“Our first half was pretty solid, probably the best basketball we’ve played on both sides of the floor,” Curry said. “Had a couple of untimely turnovers to start a momentum run. Then they got to the foul line 42 times, which is gonna do a lot of things, easy points, but even on misses or makes they get to set their defense. They were starting to blitz pretty much everywhere, we got some pretty good looks, they could have gave us some room, but it didn’t go our way. It’s just a make-or-miss league down the stretch. Those two turnovers, I had one, Draymond had one. It’s tough. Tough way to go out. All those put together, we played pretty well. It’s just, we ran out of gas at the end.”
Steph Curry isn’t wrong, the Golden State Warriors certainly looked like they were playing their best basketball of the season in the first half. It looked like they finally received the wake-up call that fans had been waiting for. Even though they blew the 24-point lead, there was ultimately no reason to blow the 5-point lead in the final minute. If that moment isn’t a wake-up call for this team, it’s hard to know what will be.
