Fourth quarter women continue with loss to Nets – NBC Sports Bay Area & California

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SAN FRANCISCO – No lead is safe in the NBA, as the Warriors learned again Monday night at the Chase Center against the rebuilding, short-handed Brooklyn Nets.

The Warriors on Saturday in San Antonio led by 17 points in the third quarter and ended up losing by 10. After a day’s rest, the Warriors had an 18-point lead over the Nets in the third quarter. That lead was then down to just five in the fourth quarter.

Just a little more than three minutes into the fourth, the lead was gone. The Warriors never got it back and lost 128-120. Brooklyn outscored Golden State 41-28 in the fourth quarter.

Steph Curry scored a team-high 28 points and went 8 of 16 on 3-pointers. Andrew Wiggins added 18. Moses Moody had 15, but all in the first half. Lindy Waters gave the Warriors 13 points, 10 of which were in the first half.

Inexcusably, the Warriors were again crushed at the free throw line. The Nets made 26 of their 30 free throws. However, the Warriors shot 11 of 17 on free throws, making 15 fewer free throws in an eight-point loss.

Here are three takeaways from Golden State’s second straight frustrating loss.

3-point party

As it often does in the NBA, the deciding factor between these two teams should clearly be the 3-point line. The Warriors and Nets, entering Monday, both ranked in the top seven in 3-point attempts per game. match. While Brooklyn was seventh, averaging 40.6 attempts per game, Golden State was just over with 41.6 attempts – fourth in the NBA.

Right away, it was clear it was going to be a 3-point shootout at the Chase Center. The first quarter saw the Warriors and Nets combine for 48 shots, and 31 were from beyond the arc. Although the Warriors were more accurate to start the game, the Nets had a six-point advantage from deep through the first 12 minutes and led by four.

The advantage at the break then belonged to the Warriors. They hit two more 3s than the Nets in the first half and led by nine points. Six Warriors had already cashed in from deep.

Both teams were then tied at 15 3s each entering the fourth quarter as the Nets outscored the Warriors 29-25 in the third quarter. The final tally was 20 3s for the Nets and 19 for the Warriors — with nearly half coming from Curry.

Nets coach Jordi Fernandez gave time to nine players and each made at least one three.

Painting evening

The Nets, when healthy, are a much longer and taller team than the Warriors. But down several big men, coach Jordi Fernandez turned to 6-foot-9 small forward Ziaire Williams to be his small-ball center, and the Warriors took advantage.

And more than their post players like Draymond Green and Trayce Jackson-Davis contributed to the action.

When Andrew Wiggins plays downhill, it’s a positive for the Warriors. Within the first two minutes, he had a diving layup and didn’t shy away from contact. Moses Moody also had more reasons to flex on the Nets.

Gary Payton II, at 6-foot-2, showed his uniqueness in many ways. With about four minutes left in the first half, Payton sprinted down the court after a Nets missed layup and shut down Cam Thomas (6-foot-4) and got into position for a fastbreak layup after Brandin Podziemski found him for an easy bucket. Later in the first half, Payton knocked down a dunk from a Curry who missed a three.

In the first quarter, the Warriors had eight more points in the paint than the Nets, 12 to 4. At halftime, those numbers increased to 30 points for the Warriors, 16 more than the Nets’ 14.

In their Saturday night loss to the Spurs, the Warriors feasted in the paint early, but settled far too often as their lead unraveled. The Warriors outscored the Nets’ points in the paint more than twice, 52 to 34, but other aspects of the game were too much to overcome.

Dynamic Duo

For more than a decade, the combination of Curry and Draymond Green has completely changed the way basketball can be viewed, offensively and defensively. A sequence in the third quarter showed exactly how.

Roaming like an All-Pro free safety, Green scoured the Nets’ offense before surprising their sensational scorer Cam Thomas. When Thomas sprinted off with a dribble handoff with the shot clock running down, he thought he would have an opening for a three. Green thought otherwise.

The legendary defender jumped on the switch, closed out to Thomas and forced an errant deep off the back of the rim. The ball then bounced to Curry, who took it down the court and let it fly from the left wing, spraying a triple on Thomas and Jalen Wilson.

Stuffed on the shot by Wilson, Curry completed the four-point play after celebrating on the floor.

Those 30 seconds perfectly showcase the kind of impact that only Curry and Green can have on the game. They will also be forgotten after such an ugly loss.

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