On Wednesday night, the Golden Sate Warriors let a golden opportunity slip through their fingers. The Warriors held a six-point lead in the final two minutes of their NBA Cup quarterfinal against the Houston Rockets, but the Rockets ended the game on a 7-0 run to steal a 91-90 victory and advance to Saturday's semifinals in Las Vegas.
The Warriors came up on the wrong end of some controversial calls down the stretch of this one, including an obvious missed foul on a Stephen Curry 3-pointer and the foul heard around the world with 3.5 seconds left that gave Jalen Green the game-winning free throws. Warriors fans were outraged after the game about the officials and Steve Kerr went on an epic rant directed at them postgame.
However, the referees aren't the only reason that Golden State fell short in this one. The Warriors' offense completely abandoned them in the fourth quarter and allowed the Rockets to slowly claw back into what was a defensive slugfest all night long. When the Warriors needed to find a bucket to maintain their lead, they couldn't do it.
In fact, this was an all-time offensive meltdown from Curry and company.
“The Warriors are the only NBA team in the last 20 years to go scoreless with multiple shot-clock violations over the last 3 minutes of a game and end up losing,” OptaStats wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
The Warriors will now have to watch the semifinals from home after they couldn't get the final few points that they needed to close out the victory on Wednesday night.
No need to panic for shorthanded Warriors
Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) looks up after a play during the fourth quarter against the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center.
Troy Taormina-Imagn Images
Despite a brutal loss on Wednesday night and a frustrating stretch of play for the Warriors, they don't have any reason to panic just yet. This is a team playing without multiple key players that will improve tremendously when they return.
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The big absence in this one was Andrew Wiggins on the wing. Wiggins missed this game with an ankle injury after being listed as a game-time decision in the lead-up. Unfortunately, this was a matchup where you could really feel Wiggins' absence in the Warriors lineup.
Against such a good Rockets defense in a game that was a half-court slugfest, Wiggins' shotmaking and the ability to bail the Warriors out with a contested jump shot late in the clock would have been a huge plus for Steve Kerr and company. Wiggins can also create baskets with his offensive rebounding, and that could have been the difference in this game.
Backup forward Moses Moody also missed this game due to a knee injury. When those two are able to return, they add a level of size and versatility on the wing that the Warriors don't have when they are out of the lineup. Despite the rough patch recently, the Warriors should be just fine moving forward when they get healthy.