Warriors' loss continues inglorious streak
The Warriors can't manage to win on the road. Especially after regulation.
Golden State dropped their ninth road-overtime game in a row when they simply couldn't score down the stretch against the Minnesota Timberwolves. In the final 10 minutes of the game, the team managed only ten points, and made just three shots from the floor.
The Warriors' last road overtime win was Game Four of the Western Conference Finals in 2019, where they held off the Portland Trail Blazers, 119-117. For a regular-season win, you have to go back more than five years, to Dec. 18, 2017. when the Warriors beat the Lakers in Los Angeles without Steph Curry, thanks to Kevin Durant's 12 points in OT.
Curry may be part of the team's struggles. He missed five of his last six shots Wednesday night, and his OT numbers over the past two seasons are rough.
That's not a big sample size, but those aren't the numbers the Warriors need from their best player. Why does he struggle? There's a few possibilities.
While he's gotten stronger over the years, Curry is still just 6'3" and 185 pounds. He wears down over the course of a game, especially close games where the offensive load falls on him and opponents can target him more on defense. It's also possible that the Warriors conserve their energy, going all-out to win in regulation and then doing their version of load management in the extra period.
Still, the simplest reason is that the Warriors often end up in overtime in games where Curry's shot is struggling already. In the five games where Curry has played in overtime, he's shooting only 34.2 percent from three-point range.
Normally, the Warriors are so good in the regular season that the struggles in overtime don't affect them much. But in this year's tightly-packed Western Conference, the Warriors' three OT losses on the road — all featuring missed game-winners by Curry in the final seconds — have been the difference between fourth place and ninth.
In the end, the Warriors' inability to win OT games on the road might cost them the chance to get an extra playoff game at home.
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