Kurtenbach: The deeper meaning behind the Warriors’ embarrassing Game 5 loss
Golden State Warriors – Memphis Grizzlies: Steph Curry, Klay Thompson,
and Draymond Green need to find that "championship DNA" if they want to
avoid another run at 3-1 history.
>MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE -MAY 11: Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry
watches in the third quarter as the Memphis Grizzlies put Game 5 away
during a second-round NBA basketball playoff series at FedEx Forum in
Memphis, Tenn., on Wednesday, May 11, 2022. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News
Group)
>MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE -MAY 11: Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry
watches in the third quarter as the Memphis Grizzlies put Game 5 away
during a second-round NBA basketball playoff series at FedEx Forum in
Memphis, Tenn., on Wednesday, May 11, 2022. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News
Group)
By DIETER KURTENBACH | dkurtenbach@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News
Group
PUBLISHED: May 12, 2022 at 6:00 a.m. | UPDATED: May 12, 2022 at 10:28 a.m.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2022/05/12/kurtenbach-the-deeper-meaning-behind-the-warriors-embarrassing-game-5-loss/

The Warriors were caught sleepwalking in Memphis on Wednesday.

Losing a game is one thing. Anyone can lose a playoff game.

But to lose a series-clinching game by 39 points and for that to be a
nice turnaround from the 55-point deficit your team faced a quarter
before is a truly different beast.

There’s a deeper meaning to a beating like that.

And no matter what you or the Warriors call the Game 5 loss — awful,
embarrassing, a butt-kicking — it was not the performance of a
championship team.

There’s no flushing this one away; no clean advancement to the next game.

The scoreline was spectacular — downright singular — but this game was
hardly a one-off.

The Warriors have been telling us that such a thing was possible all
series, and for weeks and months before that.

>MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE - MAY 11: Golden State Warriors' Jordan Poole and
Stephen Curry watch as the Memphis Grizzlies build a 50 point lead in
third quarter of Game 5 of a second-round NBA basketball playoff series
at FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tenn., on Wednesday, May 11, 2022. (Karl
Mondon/Bay Area News Group)

This team’s turnover issue isn’t new. Neither is their lack of size. The
team’s defensive ineptitude has shown up more frequently as the season
progressed. Their rotations have been a hot, ever-changing mess since
the campaign tipped off in October.

Now, the Warriors can absolutely bounce back and win another game
against the Grizzlies to claim this series.

And this team still has a high ceiling — they’re capable of winning a
championship.

But this Warriors team keeps falling through the trap door they built on
their floor, and that’s anything but a championship characteristic.

Some ugly wins on top of ugly losses make it feel as if this Warriors
team is not built for sustainable postseason success. The truth is found
in the margins, and the Warriors’ margins indicate that they’re
operating on borrowed time.

And that’s not even taking into account this team’s injury woes, which
mounted Wednesday with Otto Porter being unable to play in the second
half with a foot injury.

This goes beyond mere fallibility — a new concept for Dubs fans to
reckon with during this playoff run.

No, this speaks to this team’s collective mentality.

The Warriors seem intent on showing their fundamental flaws on a
near-nightly basis.

They simply can’t get enough of early deficits and the necessity of late
comebacks.

Are they bored daredevils or a fundamentally flawed operation?

I’m sure someone will make the case for the former, but the Warriors
don’t deserve that benefit of the doubt. No, this Dubs team is running
on a past reputation that simply doesn’t apply to the year 2022.

>MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE - MAY 11: Golden State Warriors acting head coach
Mike Brown had few answers against the Memphis Grizzlies during the
first half of Game 5 of a second-round NBA basketball playoff series at
FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tenn., on Wednesday, May 11, 2022. (Karl
Mondon/Bay Area News Group)

These 2022 Warriors are a deeply unserious basketball team. They have
averaged 18 turnovers per game against the Grizzlies. The forced change
of head coach has only further exposed this squad’s lack of focus over
the last two games.

Yes, this is a Warriors team that needs active coaching. That’s why
Steve Kerr has aged as much in this past season as he did between 2015
and 2019. Junk defenses and aggressive timeouts are part of the Dubs’
game plan now.

Meanwhile, in the last two games, acting head coach Mike Brown has
fulfilled the stereotype of the substitute teacher.

He had a great view of Thursday’s game from the sideline. I wonder if he
ever thought “maybe the Warriors coach should call a timeout” as the
team in black slid further and further into oblivion.

It’s hardly all Brown’s fault that the Warriors had their teeth kicked
in Wednesday, but bad coaching was part of the problem. With Kerr
sidelined by COVID, Brown is expected to stay in this oxymoronic “acting
head coach” role for the remainder of the series.

When the Warriors come back and win games they mess around in, it’s so
often attributed to their “championship DNA.” And while their
unflappability is a positive quality, it should be noted that champions
also know how to start a game strong, too. They certainly know that you
don’t miss opportunities to end a series — the Warriors have dropped two
elimination games this postseason. They dropped three, total, in the
Kevin Durant years of the Dubs dynasty.

Regardless of who the Warriors might play — and I still expect them to
win one of the next two games — the next round of the playoffs will only
bring steeper competition and a slimmer margin for error.

For a Golden State team that has become used to serious leniency over
the course of this season, it’s hard to imagine that going well.

If the Warriors are going to make this season an extension of their
dynastic run, they will have to get serious starting Friday. A first
punch would be a welcome concept.

Now, everyone can get a slice of this blame pie following the most
embarrassing loss of the season Thursday — Steph Curry, Klay Thompson,
Jordan Poole, Brown, the full lot.

But special attention needs to be paid to Draymond Green.

The Warriors’ heartbeat has been faint this series.

We can all empathize with the personal tragedy Green experienced before
Game 4 — the tragic killing of his college teammate Adreian Payne — but
this is the playoffs and no one is graded on the curve.

And in this series, the Warriors forward is averaging 4.8 points, 5.6
assists, and 4 turnovers per game, all while Memphis has been able to
defend him like Tony Allen in the 2015 playoffs.

Defensively, Green has flashed, but the unmistakable impact that he can
make on that side of the court has not been present.

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This is not winning basketball from Green. It’s out of control.

The only thing consistent about Green in his series has been his
podcasting output. There seems to be more soul into his postgame
comments than the game itself.

And with Green playing like that — when he’s playing, of course — is it
any surprise the Warriors are only sporadically excellent?

The Warriors are too good a team to play this poorly, but they’re not
too good a team to be beaten on the up-and-up.

This is their new reality, one they never had to inhabit when they were
forming that “championship DNA.”

This moment calls for professionals — ruthless operators. Players and
coaches can tilt the floor to their team’s advantage.

The Warriors should ostensibly possess such abilities. But that’s only a
guess.

After eight years of the Kerr era; after eight months of watching this
team play, that’s what we’re left with — a guess.

Doesn’t that say it all?