Kurtenbach: The Warriors were too eager and too disjointed to finish the
Nuggets. Steve Kerr saw it coming
Golden State Warriors: Steph Curry's late heroics couldn't overcome a
poor start in the Warriors' Game 4 loss to the Denver Nuggets.
>DENVER, COLORADO – APRIL 24: Golden State Warriors head coach Steve
Kerr reacts to a fouled called against Golden State Warriors’ Klay
Thompson (11) during their game against the Denver Nuggets in the second
quarter of Game 4 of the team’s NBA basketball first-round playoff
series at Ball Arena in Denver, Colo., on Sunday, April 24, 2022. (Nhat
V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
>DENVER, COLORADO – APRIL 24: Golden State Warriors head coach Steve
Kerr reacts to a fouled called against Golden State Warriors’ Klay
Thompson (11) during their game against the Denver Nuggets in the second
quarter of Game 4 of the team’s NBA basketball first-round playoff
series at Ball Arena in Denver, Colo., on Sunday, April 24, 2022. (Nhat
V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
By DIETER KURTENBACH | dkurtenbach@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News
Group
PUBLISHED: April 24, 2022 at 5:04 p.m. | UPDATED: April 24, 2022 at 6:21
p.m.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2022/04/24/kurtenbach-the-warriors-were-too-eager-disjointed-to-finish-the-nuggets-steve-kerr-saw-it-coming/

Warriors coach Steve Kerr has eight NBA championship rings — five as a
player and three in his current role.

There might be a few people who know how to win in the playoffs as well
as Kerr, but no one knows more than him.

Keep that in mind when I tell you that the Warriors will beat the Denver
Nuggets in the team’s first-round playoff series.

But on Sunday, Golden State missed its chance to take care of business
and end the series in the minimum four games. Denver beat the Warriors
126-121, forcing a Game 5 Wednesday in San Francisco.

Kerr saw the loss coming. He warned his team in the first quarter.

They didn’t heed the lesson until it was too late.

>DENVER, COLORADO – APRIL 24: Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokić (15) knocks
the ball away from Golden State Warriors’ Kevon Looney (5) in the third
quarter of Game 4 of the team’s NBA basketball first-round playoff
series at Ball Arena in Denver, Colo., on Sunday, April 24, 2022. (Nhat
V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)

With the Warriors trailing the Nuggets early, Kerr called a timeout and
called out his team. ESPN cameras picked it all up:

“It feels to me like we smell blood and we’re trying too hard,” Kerr
said. “We’re going for the kill. It doesn’t work that way. You get the
kill by executing to death — just executing over and over again.”

The Warriors had their moments in Game 4, Sunday, but they were simply
too infrequent and ultimately insufficient. The execution was, indeed,
not up to par over the course of 48 minutes.

The Warriors were too eager and too disjointed to close out the Nuggets.

“It took us a long time to get going,” Kerr said after the game. “We
didn’t play our game tonight.”

Perhaps that’s an important lesson learned for this team. I think that’s
ascribing too much meaning to the moment. Sunday was nothing more than a
missed opportunity for the Dubs.

The true meaning of Sunday’s game will be defined on Wednesday.

>DENVER, COLORADO – APRIL 24: Golden State Warriors’ Klay Thompson (11)
loses the ball against Denver Nuggets’ JaMychal Green (0) and Denver
Nuggets’ Bryn Forbes (6) in the second quarter of Game 4 of the team’s
NBA basketball first-round playoff series at Ball Arena in Denver,
Colo., on Sunday, April 24, 2022. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)

A proud Denver team, paired with a referee crew that was somehow even
more disjointed than the Warriors, ensured that Sunday would be the
Golden State’s toughest game of the series.

Wednesday should prove to be even tougher, even with home-court
advantage. Denver now has some confidence and has nothing to lose. The
Warriors have just a smidgen of pressure on them heading into Game 5.

If the Warriors can slow themselves down on offense and avoid creating a
symphony of whistles with late rotations on defense, the Game 4 loss
won’t mean much in the grand scheme of things.

Yes, they’ll have to play one more game this postseason than they
should, but one more isn’t a significant issue for the Warriors. Their
second-round opponent — either Memphis or Minnesota — is guaranteed to
play at least six games.

>DENVER, COLORADO – APRIL 24: Golden State Warriors’ Klay Thompson (11)
holds his head after being hit in the head by the ball on a pass by
Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green (23) during their game against the
Denver Nuggets in the third quarter of Game 4 of the team’s NBA
basketball first-round playoff series at Ball Arena in Denver, Colo., on
Sunday, April 24, 2022. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)

Now, if the Warriors have to go to Denver again for a Game 6, we’ll have
something significant to discuss with this Dubs team.

But even after a poor performance Sunday, I see reasons to be bullish on
the Warriors ahead of Game 5; reasons to believe this loss was a one-off
for the series.

That’s because as lopsided as the game was — Denver made 15-of-31
3-pointers — it was close in the final minutes.

Golden State played maybe 10 total minutes of engaged, quality
basketball Sunday.

Draymond Green used an expletive in the postgame press conference to
describe the Warriors’ crummy defense in Game 4.

“That falls on me,” he said.

>DENVER, COLORADO – APRIL 24: Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green
(23) dunks the ball against the Denver Nuggets in the third quarter of
Game 4 of the team’s NBA basketball first-round playoff series at Ball
Arena in Denver, Colo., on Sunday, April 24, 2022. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay
Area News Group)

Jordan Poole, the breakout star of the postseason, went 3-for-10 from
the floor.

The Warriors’ true bench players (meaning everyone but Steph Curry) made
three shots all night.

The Dubs turned it over 11 times in the first half and had 27 fouls
called against them in the game.

What a mess it was.

>DENVER, COLORADO – APRIL 24: Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry (30)
fights for the ball against the Denver Nuggets in the third quarter of
Game 4 of the team’s NBA basketball first-round playoff series at Ball
Arena in Denver, Colo., on Sunday, April 24, 2022. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay
Area News Group)

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And yet there were the Warriors, in position to end Denver’s season late
in the fourth quarter. That speaks volumes about the quality of this
operation, even if we didn’t see enough of it on Sunday.

Credit the incredible — but collectively inconsistent — trio of Curry
(15 fourth-quarter points), Klay Thompson (seven made 3-pointers), and
Green (plus-18 in the game, but fouled out with 2:05 to play in the game).

Ultimately, though, the Warriors’ early-game failures proved the
difference. They never dug themselves out of their early hole of
exuberance and perhaps hubris, too.

Tip your hat to the Nuggets, though. Instead of getting an early start
on their spring vacations, they played a full 48 minutes with serious
gumption. That could not have been easy to do, seeing as no team in NBA
history has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit. Denver’s players, deep
down, have to know they will not be the exception, as evidenced by the
Warriors’ chance to win late on Sunday afternoon.

>DENVER, COLORADO – APRIL 24: Denver Nuggets’ Bones Hyland (3)
celebrates his 3-point basket with Denver Nuggets’ DeMarcus Cousins (4)
against the Golden State Warriors in the second quarter of Game 4 of the
team’s NBA basketball first-round playoff series at Ball Arena in
Denver, Colo., on Sunday, April 24, 2022. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News
Group)

I didn’t see that kind of effort coming. Not after the first three games
of the series.

But on Sunday, the Nuggets were worthy adversaries to the Warriors.

This Golden State team has what it takes to win a title. The first three
games of this series showed that.

But the Warriors are not so good that they cannot be beaten. Game 4
showed that.

The Warriors just took what will be the first of what will be many
punches this postseason.

I’m fascinated to see how they counter.

>DENVER, COLORADO – APRIL 24: Denver Nuggets’ JaMychal Green (0) dunks
the ball against the Golden State Warriors in the fourth quarter of Game
4 of the team’s NBA basketball first-round playoff series at Ball Arena
in Denver, Colo., on Sunday, April 24, 2022. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area
News Group)