A common theme throughout the young Golden State Warriors season has been grit. The “baby Dubs” have hung around and battled teams with superior talent, but have wilted while the opposing team made a run.
On Monday night in the Chase Center, the Warriors answered every run the Oklahoma City Thunder had until the fourth and final quarter.
The Warriors had a 15-point lead in the 3rd quarter, but it wasn’t good enough. Golden State got sloppy with the basketball at the same time they hit a wall with scoring. In the meantime, the Thunder sneaked back with a 22-5 fourth-quarter run to complete the comeback, 100-97.
The Warriors didn’t have anyone to close out the final portion of the game and protect the lead. When veterans, Chris Paul and Danilo Gallinari, started to make their run, and the Warriors needed to call on someone to step up, no one answered. Ky Bowman and Eric Paschall looked like rookies during crunch time. The Warriors were only able to only score 14-points in the game’s final frame on 5-of-22 shooting from the floor. Losses like this show just how much Golden State misses Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and D’Angelo Russell.
Although Bowman struggled down the stretch, he scored 24 points on 9-of-17 shooting with five assists and three steals. The two-way undrafted rookie was again efficient as the team’s primary ball-handler, playing 39 minutes with only one turnover.
Glenn Robinson III turned in another solid performance for the Warriors, going for a career-high 25-points in the tight loss. Robinson, only 25-years-old, is making a case to be apart of Golden State’s plans for the future.
The Warriors will get another opportunity at home against the Chicago Bulls, before heading out on a five-game road trip after the Thanksgiving holiday.
