Much of the talk about Golden State Warriors’ loss to the Houston Rockets on Wednesday focus on the wrong call made by the referee in the last three seconds of the game but for team leader Stephen Curry, that is not is not their only problem.
To him, it is more of an “us problem” than the referee.
Before the pandemonium over a loose ball at the end of the game, Curry took a shot from the three point line. They were up by one. The problem lies on the fact that there was still nine seconds left in the shot clock.
The best move would have been to let the clock run out.
Curry is not exactly regretful about his decision-making. It is 50/50 for him.
“Both…Probably a couple seconds too early…If I make the shot, we’re on a plane to Vegas,” he told reporters when asked if he thought he took the shot earlier than what should have been or if he thought it was a good shot.
What he is critical about are the misses they are making. He thought the past games showed that they are having trouble in putting the ball in the hole.
The pattern of scoreless droughts down the stretch has to be addressed or else we’ll be a mediocre team. I’ll take responsibility for not being able to get us organized and not being able to finish plays. Ball’s in my hands. I got to make shots.
With the loss, the Warriors failed to advance to the Final Four of the NBA Emirates Cup. They also allowed the Rockets to snap their personal losing streak against them to 15.
Curry had 19 points in the game. Jonathan Kuminga contributed 20 points.
Stephen Curry is right
Warriors had close games in the past weeks.
First there was the loss to the Denver Nuggets when they were leading in the last moments only for it to be stolen after they failed to hit a field goal in the last 2:32 seconds.
They led their hosts, 115-109 in that mark. However, Nikola Jokic and co chipped away on that led and scored ten points for themselves for the comeback victory.
The loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves last Friday is much worse as they only scored 18 points in the fourth quarter after keeping the game close in the first three.
These losses have critics doubting the Warriors’ status as title contenders.
“Their window for contention is closed,” Danny Green said in the Run it Back podcast. “They’re a good team, better than I expected to be to start out. They’re starting to come down to Earth a little bit. To me, I just don’t think the window of contention is there for them.”
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