Warriors throw away 19 point 4th quarter lead in loss to Mavs

Just days after Warriors star Steph Curry put the rest of the league on notice, it may well be that he's reconsidering his words having seen his team capitulate in front of an opponent who they were leading by a large margin.

Golden State Warriors blow huge lead in loss to Mavs

On Sunday night as the game between the Golden State Warriors and the Dallas Mavericks went into the fourth quarter, things seemed to be shaping up for another comfortable Warriors win. Indeed, the Warriors were leading by 19 points at the time. Yet incredibly, the game would end in favor of Dallas. The question is, what happened? Prior to that moment, the Warriors had spent the better part of three quarters containing and quite frankly dominating the Mavericks. Their offense - a well oiled machine - was functioning as it normally does to the extent that at one point they were actually up by as many as 21 points. That, however, changed once the final quarter began.

It was almost as if there was another team playing when the fourth quarter got off an running as momentum completely shifted, finally resulting in the Warriors blowing the largest fourth quarter lead - 19 points - in the league this season as the Mavericks won 107-101."We did not maintain our grit down the stretch," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. "We just let our momentum get away from us ...We can't just say, 'Oh well, when Draymond [Green] and Andre [Iguodala] get back we will be better.' It doesn't matter who's out there. We've got to get better executing under pressure and maintaining competence. ...It's actually good to go through and feel it because this is what it feels like in the playoffs, when you're playing against a really good team."

Warriors' Steve Kerr and Steph Curry weigh in on loss

If there was a moment that one could say was the critical point when things went astray for the Warriors, it would definitely be somewhere around the 9:45 mark during the fourth quarter. From that point on it was downhill for Golden State until there was approximately 1:30 left on the clock. During what was almost nine minutes worth of game time, Dallas went on a 26-1 run - the Warriors' lone point coming off an Andrew Wiggins free throw.

Speaking on the disastrous turn of events, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr credited the the Mavericks' focus on small plays as well as Spencer Dinwiddie going red hot, scoring 10 of his 24 points in the fourth. "We tried a few different combinations to try to regain the momentum and we just couldn't find anything," he said. "When they went small, we didn't respond. We missed some open shots and they just seized the momentum." Warriors' star added his lamentations to his coach's take. "We played great defense for 36 minutes," Stephen Curry said. "We felt like we had the game under control. For whatever reason, our energy shifted when we missed a couple of shots, empty possessions. They come down and score, we start getting deflated. And for no reason."

What exactly happened between the Warriors and Mavs?

One thing that Curry called correct is the fact that Warriors defense was oppressive in the initial stages of the game - especially where Wiggins and Gary Payton II were concerned - and then it wasn't. To punctuate this point, consider that in the first half, Wiggins held the Mavericks to 2-of-11 shooting and forced the turnovers as the primary defender. Working in tandem with Payton, the pair held Luka Doncic to a mere 1-of-8 shooting and four turnovers. Unfortunately, it didn't last. "We let our offense dictate our energy and our spirit in the game," Kevon Looney said. "We kind of folded when adversity hit."

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With Sunday's loss it is now the second consecutive home game and the second game in the last three, in which the Warriors essentially wasted a large fourth quarter lead. The last time was back on February 16th against the Nuggets. "We got to figure out how to maintain our energy when the shots aren't falling," Curry said. "Because, that's what it might be like in a playoff game. ...So I'd like to say it was a good lesson to learn, even though it sucks to have to go through it."

Where do the Warriors go from here?

While there are definitely lessons for Curry, Kerr and co. to take stock of after their most recent disappointment, the important thing for them to remember will surely be that whether its effort or execution under pressure, neither of the two will get better without the work. "We've got to bring an edge," Curry said. "Sustain that over 48 minutes and each game we'll have an opportunity to do that -- to turn it into a positive and try to build momentum, but it's not going to happen on its own just because Coach says it or because we want it to. We've got to do it."