Warriors Collapse On the Court and Off

In the Golden State Warriors loss last night to the Memphis Grizzlies, you can’t place the blame on one play or one player. When a team blows a 20-point lead with 15 minutes to play, it is truly a team effort. After the game, everyone was quick to point the finger at Monta Ellis and Steph Curry for their costly turnovers in the 4th quarter, which is completely fair. Ellis and Curry combined for 6 4th quarter turnovers, which is unacceptable. However, there were plenty more factors that go into a game like that.

Mark Jackson let his starters play the first 9 minutes of the game, until Andris Biedrins picked up his 2nd foul. At that point, the Warriors had a 16-9 lead. When the 2nd quarter started, the Warriors had a 23-13 lead and their lineup on the floor consisted entirely of bench players: Nate Robinson, Brandon Rush, Klay Thompson, Dominic McGuire and Ekpe Udoh. This lineup remained on the floor until there was 3:30 left in the quarter, and the W’s had extended their lead to 40-25. To do the math for you, the all-bench Warriors outscored the Grizzlies 17-12 for 8 minutes and 30 seconds.

The 3rd quarter started off the same as the 1st for the Warriors: generally sloppy but good enough to extend the lead. With 3:20 left in the 3rd, the Warriors had extended their lead to 20 points, led by mostly starters on the floor (Biedrins was subbed out for Rush with 5:30 left in the quarter). The quarter ended with the Warriors holding a 68-52 lead and, like the start of the 2nd quarter, the all-bench lineup came out to start the 4th. But the 4th quarter would not play out the same way as the 2nd.