Getty Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors.
The Golden State Warriors don’t have a ton of room for error as the season begins to wind down. The playoffs are mere weeks away, and Golden State has struggled to maintain any sort of consistency for a large portion of this season.
On Sunday night, they faltered at home against the Minnesota Timberwolves in a brutal loss. They were down by two points late in the game but turned it over after holding the ball for the last shot. After the game, Stephen Curry spoke about the possession, name-dropping Draymond Green in the process.
“At first, it felt like they were trying to take a foul,” Curry said via the NBA Interviews YouTube channel. “I got two people that kind of swiped at me, and they didn’t call anything, so then I changed sides of the court. And I thought it was a little early to shoot just because [if] you make or miss, you give them another possession. So, I kicked it to Draymond. Obviously, I’m sure we could just hold it at that point, maybe, but everything up until that point was just trying to run the clock off. Run time off the clock and force them to need to make a decision whether they really wanted to foul or not. But we lost it.”
The Warriors were unable to get a shot up on the possession, which led to the Timberwolves extending their lead to three at the foul line, as Golden State had to intentionally foul.
Despite the loss, Curry still put up solid stats, but he was inefficient. He finished the game with 20 points, six rebounds, and nine assists on 8-of-23 shooting from the field and 4-of-13 shooting from behind the three-point line.
Meanwhile, Green put up 12 points, seven rebounds, and five assists on 5-of-9 shooting from the floor and 1-of-3 shooting from deep.
Steve Kerr Discusses Warriors Turnovers
After the game, head coach Steve Kerr spoke about the Warriors’ late-game turnovers but also noted that he needs to be better as well.
“I don’t need to rank them (the turnovers). They all hurt,” Kerr said via the NBA Interviews YouTube channel.” We got to close the game. We got to execute down the stretch. And I got to help them. I got to do a better job myself in helping them to execute. But disappointing because we fought back and gave ourselves a chance to win. Had the ball with the lead late. I thought couple of possessions in those last two minutes just hurt us, and they hit the big shot.”
Gary Payton II Breaks Down Warriors Return
On a more positive note, Gary Payton II returned from injury against the Timberwolves, and post-game, he spoke about how it felt.
“Good. I felt like I was out there shorter than I was, but 16 minutes. Felt good, though,” Payton said via the NBA Interviews YouTube channel. “There were a lot of gaps in there, so [I was] able to go get my breath back after whistles and calls.”
He also showed love to Dub Nation.
“I didn’t have any [expectations],” Payton said of his return game. “I already knew it was love since I’ve been back from Dub Nation. So, it was just a nice welcome home. But you know I mess with Dub Nation like that. So, it’s all love.”