SAN FRANCISCO — Unguarded, Draymond Green galloped down the middle of the paint and flushed a dunk, hanging on the rim. Moments later, he forced an Ayo Dosunmu turnover at the rim and found a streaking Brandin Podziemski for a fast break layup.
Green’s assist to Podziemski gave him eight on the night, and the point-center finished with his first triple-double of the season. After a lackluster first half, the Warriors needed a dose of energy, and Green injected it. But the Warriors needed to bottle more of his energy, and more consistently to overcome a poor shooting night.
The Warriors (33-29) closed the game without Steph Curry, who injured his ankle late, and Green, who fouled out. The Warriors still had a chance to win without them, but Brandin Podziemski missed what would have been the game-tying layup, sending Golden State to a 125-122 defeat.
The Warriors’ intensity ramped up in the fourth, but shooting 26.2% from behind the 3-point arc requires an immense, persistent level of urgency to conquer.
Golden State committed only three real turnovers in the first half, with a fourth being a meaningless Draymond Green hail mary pass in the waning seconds of the first quarter. Despite taking care of the ball, Golden State’s shots — many of which were clean looks — weren’t falling like they did against Milwaukee. Because the Warriors shot 29.2% from 3, they faced a four-point deficit at halftime.
Chicago’s two-pronged offensive attack was steady. DeMar DeRozan notched a pair and-ones and center Nikola Vucevic scored from all three levels. They each entered halftime with 18 points and finished with 33 apiece.
To claw out of the play-in tournament, the Warriors need to play like they did against the Bucks as often as they can. To maintain a consistent level of play on both ends. On the second night of a back-to-back, against title contenders like Milwaukee or less relevant teams like Chicago.
“I think our guys feel really good right now,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said pregame. “It feels like guys have settled into roles and we’ve found combinations that we like. And so we’ve been playing well for about a month or so, and we’re just going to try to keep it going. We’ve got a lot of ground to make up.”
On Thursday, with both the Warriors and Bulls on the second night of a back-to-back, the team with more urgency would come out on top. For the Warriors, there’s nothing more urgent than making up ground.
Green gave Golden State some gas to start the second half, and Curry sank consecutive 3-pointers. But the Bulls had answers, with Coby White slashing and DeRozan herky-jerking his way to buckets.
Eight minutes into the third quarter, Curry got caught behind the play while arguing with a ref, allowing Vucevic to score an easy basket. Kerr furiously called timeout as his team fell back behind by four. A miscommunication gave Jevon Carter a wide-open 3, and Onuralp Bitim and DeRozan made it a barrage from deep.
Chicago ended the third quarter on a 22-8 run. When Golden State needed to summon one of their classic third quarters, they got handed a setback.
Green did his best to jolt the Warriors again, drawing a charge on Andre Drummond early in the fourth as part of an 8-1 Warriors response. Then Moses Moody and Jonathan Kuminga ignited the crowd with consecutive steals, the second leading to a Klay Thompson triple to cut Chicago’s lead to one.
There it was: urgency.
With 5:51 in the fourth, Trayce Jackson-Davis delivered a strike to Moody on the fast break to give the Warriors their first lead since early in the third quarter. In front of a raucous home crowd, Golden State was suddenly swarming. Curry took a charge but soon after limped to the locker room after rolling his right ankle on a drive. Then Green fouled out with 58 seconds remaining of a tie game, leaving the Warriors without their two best players in crunch time.
Thompson put the Warriors ahead as the possessions dwindled, but DeRozan’s drilled an and-1 jumper with 26 seconds and Podziemski’s missed his point-blank layup. Chris Paul’s corner 3 gave them a sliver of hope, but it proved fleeting.
What matters more than even making up ground, though, will be the status of Curry’s ankle.