Warriors’ third-quarter powers have big fourth-quarter problem originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
BOSTON — The Warriors’ powers coming out of halftime have withstood time, only growing stronger the older this core group of players grow. At this point, they’re their own entity. From myth to regular reality, the Third-Quarter Warriors have continued to dominate in these NBA Finals.
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Does it really matter, though, when the Boston Celtics continue to crush them in the fourth?
Through three games, the Warriors have outscored the Celtics 106-63 in the third quarter. That’s good for a 43-point difference. But Golden State also has been outscored by Boston 87-47, a 40-point difference, in the fourth quarter after their 116-100 Game 3 loss Wednesday night at TD Garden.
When I asked Klay Thompson about the reasoning behind those discrepancies, he first answered in a very Klay-like fashion before turning back the clock to his first championship.
“I think we’re making more shots in the third, and they are making more shots in the fourth,” he said. “I don’t know. I have to watch the film.
“But it’s not — we’re not going to overreact. We’ve been in this situation before. Getting big 2015 vibes.”
Steph Curry later was asked about Thompson’s “big 2015 vibes” comment and believes it helps knowing players like himself, Thompson and Draymond Green, as well as coach Steve Kerr, have been through a bit of everything these past eight years in their six Finals appearances.
This also is a different, older group. The Celtics don’t have a 30-year-old LeBron James, but they do feature a handful of All-Star caliber players and defensive stars. They’re the younger team, and on Wednesday night looked like the more athletic, tougher team as well.
Thompson is right. The Warriors have made 14 more field goals in the third quarter than the Celtics. Well, the Celtics now have made 12 more shots than the Warriors in the fourth. That’s where games are won, and the most points the Warriors have scored through three fourth quarters is 20.
They dropped 11 in their Game 3 loss.
“I thought we got them moving,” Green said of the Warriors in the third quarter of Game 3. “We got them scattered. Defensively, we were swarming. We were all over the place, and we took away what they were trying to do. Why we didn’t sustain it, I don’t know.
“I have to go back and watch the film and see where we let go of the rope at. I’m sure there are some things we’ll look back at and take away from it and make sure we bring it to Friday’s game.”
Looking at the Warriors’ fourth-quarter struggles, three numbers stand out: rebounds, assists and turnovers. During the final 12 minutes of the first three games, the Warriors have been outrebounded 32 to 23. The Celtics have handed out 11 more assists, and the Warriors have turned the ball over 11 more times than their Finals opponent.
In Wednesday night’s loss, the Warriors committed eight turnovers in the fourth quarter: three by Curry, three by Jordan Poole, one by Andrew Wiggins and one by Juan Toscano-Anderson. Four of those turnovers came in the first six possessions. At the 9:07 mark, Kerr was forced to call a timeout after the Celtics opened the fourth on an 8-2 run, giving them an 11-point lead.
That isn’t going to get the job done against the best defense in basketball.
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After blowing a 12-point lead in Game 1 and going on cruise control in Game 2 with a 23-point lead entering the fourth, the Warriors didn’t have that option in Game 3. They were down by four points as the final quarter started and had a great chance to quiet a wild TD Garden crowd. Instead, they let the game slip right out their hands and now trail two-games-to-one in the best-of-seven Finals.
The Warriors now have Thursday’s practice to make the proper corrections, along with the hours leading up to Friday night’s tip-off. A long look in the mirror might be required. What we’re watching is far from championship DNA.
It’s a team that still believes they can overcome this deficit, just as they did against LeBron and the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2015. It’s also a team searching for answers. Big ones.
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