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SAN ANTONIO – The intensity started with the Spurs playing suffocating defense and aggressively hunting 3-point attempts. The sloppiness started with the Warriors committing turnovers and missing shots.
And so for nearly an entire first half, the Warriors played with the same kind of complacency that plagued them periodically through the 2017-18 regular season. Just as it had played out during the postseason when the Warriors’ depth and increased focus eventually surfaced, the Warriors expected to solve those issues.
The seemingly inevitable never happened, though. The Warriors squandered an opportunity to sweep their first-round series against the San Antonio Spurs. Instead, the Warriors lost, 103-90, in Game 4 on Sunday in a series that will live at least for another day with a potential series-clinching Game 5 on Tuesday at Oracle Arena.
“We want to win the game, but I don’t think anybody’s heads are down or we feel sorry for ourselves,” Warriors forward Kevin Durant said. “We have another opportunity to close this thing out at the crib.”
The Warriors had an opportunity, though, to have two extra days to prepare for the Western Conference semifinals against the New Orleans Pelicans. Instead, the Warriors will spend Tuesday hoping to they play Game 5 much differently than they played Game 4.
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In what Warriors coach Steve Kerr considered a “weird game,” the Warriors outrebounded the Spurs, 61-34, despite going through the motions. While the Spurs stunted the Warriors’ ball movement, San Antonio exerted its depth with LaMarcus Aldridge (22 points), Manu Ginobili (16), Rudy Gay (14) and Dejounte Murray (12). After shooting a combined 20-of-83 from 3-point range through the first three postseason matchups, the Spurs went 15-of-28 from the perimeter.
The Warriors shot 34-of-90 from the field, committed 16 turnovers and had only 19 assists. While Durant scored proficiently (34 points) without efficiency from the field (12-of-28) and 3-point range (4-of-13), Klay Thompson nearly disappeared altogether )12 points on 4-of-16 shooting).
“Our execution was poor and their defense was great. The combination of the two led to a poor offensive night for us,” Kerr said. “Poor execution for us means the ball is not moving.”
Technically, the Warriors still had a chance in crunch time to sweep the Spurs for the second consecutive postseason, while San Antonio labored without an injured Kawhi Leonard.
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A pair of Durant free throws and a Draymond Green putback cut the Spurs’ lead to 88-81 with 6:57 left. Durant made two pull-up jumpers and then a 3-pointer that sliced the lead to 88-86 with 5:57 remaining. But then Warriors unraveled. Durant missed his next two attempts. Aldridge banked in a turnaround 26-foot 3-pointer over Green at the top of the key for a 93-86 lead with 4:22 left, a play Thompson considered a “dagger” and Green found “frustrating.” The Warriors did not make a field goal for the final 4:11 en route to seven consecutive missed shots.
“We did everything right, but [Aldridge] just made a tough shot. I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s the backbreaker,” said Green, who had nine points, 18 rebounds and nine assists. “When we play the way we played the entire game, that’s kind of where that start catches up to you.”
The Warriors started the game with a 24-second violation. They then committed seven turnovers in the first five minutes, including two from both Durant and Green. Thompson missed four of his first five shots, which included an airballed mid-range jumper. The Spurs held a 30-22 first-quarter lead after holding the Warriors to a 9-of-25 clip.
The Warriors did not fare much better in the second quarter. They went 8-of-26 from the field. Then on the final possession before halftime, Durant, Green, Iguodala and Kevon Looney all missed shots against San Antonio’s stifling defense. The Warriors trailed, 56-42.
“Any time you get a chance to close a series out, you want to do it because you never know what could happen in the future,” said Warriors guard Shaun Livingston, who had 10 points on 5-of-9 shooting in 21 minutes off the bench. “You don’t want to put yourself in that situation or circumstance for that to happen.”
And to think, the Warriors sounded mindful the Spurs would play with emotion as coach Gregg Popovich handed off coaching duties to Ettore Messina for the second consecutive playoff game so he could grieve over his wife, Erin, passing away this week. Despite the Spurs’ diminished depth without Leonard due to nearly a season-long quadriceps injury, the Warriors expressed respect for the Spurs nearly two decades of excellence, strong fundamentals and competitive fire. As Messina said beforehand, “If we have to go home, we want to go home without regrets.”
That, and the Warriors already know the danger of losing closeout games. Though no NBA team has ever overcome a 3-0 series deficit, the Warriors still remember coughing up a 3-1 lead to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2016 NBA Finals
“This is a veteran team. We’ve been through a lot of playoff series. Weird things can happen and injuries can happen,” Kerr said beforehand. “You have to take advantage of every opportunity that you have. Our players know that.”
The Warriors might have known that. It did not make a difference.
So even if the Warriors went on their customary third-quarter push to reduce the lead to 77-71 entering the final period, the Warriors could not exert their customary dominance. They whittled in crunch time. They put the Spurs in the bonus with 7:59 left in the third quarter, with Andre Iguodala plagued with foul trouble (four). And their poor first-quarter habits led the Warriors conceding they were too large for even their star-studded team to overcome.
“Let this be a lesson to us that we have to come out and take care of business,” Livingston said. “We’re not just going to lay down.”
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