The Golden State Warriors were finally heading into a game with some tailwind behind them. After not winning consecutive games for over two months, the Warriors took a short trip to the Mile High City in Denver to face off against the Nuggets with a three-game win streak pushing them forward.
Despite all the injuries, there was a potential sense of hope that the Warriors could pull off an improbable upset after claiming those past three wins, especially considering a similarly injured Warriors team took down the Nuggets just a few weeks ago.
However, it wasn't meant to be on Sunday night. Despite a well-played first half that saw the Warriors head into the locker room up 53-46, it all fell apart in the second half. The Nuggets destroyed the Warriors 40-21 in the third quarter and 30-19 in the fourth quarter, ultimately leading to a 116-93 loss to drop the Warriors to 36-39 on the season.
Steve Kerr Notes Concerning Third-Quarter Trend
After the game, Steve Kerr spoke specifically about the concerning trend of poor third quarters that the Warriors have played recently.
"It's kind of been a pattern of ours. We're playing a really solid half, and then we just can't sustain it. That's where you really feel the injuries. You just need more depth, you need more firepower, but we just got to keep fighting. We played a really good first half, held them to 46. They really got rolling in that third ... Kind of a combination of poor offense leading to some transition defensive issues and the game just got away from us."
Kerr dived into how the offense faltered after halftime, leading to just 40 second-half points to the Nuggets' 70.
"I thought our spacing kind of broke down in the third quarter. We turned it over a few times as a result of poor spacing. Just couldn't generate any advantages and got into some late clock situations."
Brandin Podziemski and Kristaps Porzingis Excel Again
Despite the Warriors' offensive struggles in the second half, two Warriors still managed to make their impact on that end known in the final box score.
Brandin Podziemski put up his fourth-straight 20+ point game with a 23-point performance on Sunday, shooting 8-14 from the field and 5-8 from beyond the arc to go with 5 rebounds and 2 assists.
Meanwhile, Kristaps Porzingis matched that mark with 23 points of his own on a similarly efficient 8-14 shooting from the field. Porzingis also didn't miss a single one of his 5 three-point attempts.
The real issue stemmed from everyone else, as Gary Payton II and Draymond Green were the only other Warriors to score in double figures, and the team shot 42% from the field and 33% from three as a whole.
The Warriors will get two days to head back home and recover from this loss before playing their penultimate back-to-back of the year against the Spurs and the Cavaliers.