Golden State Warriors Moving Forward in Wake of Christmas Day Collapse

OAKLAND, Calif. — The Golden State Warriors' downtown Oakland practice facility was, by all outward appearances, imbued with the very sense of joyfulness and camaraderie that has become standard operating procedure in the Steve Kerr era. 

Stephen Curry faux-karate kicking an assistant coach beyond the arc. Kerr whipping a pigskin around like he'll be backing up Matt McGloin for the Oakland Raiders in Sunday's regular-season finale. Smiles and laughs everywhere you looked.

Yes, the crushing Christmas Day collapse in Cleveland was still a fresh memory in the minds of everyone within earshot, but this team doesn't do lingering heartbreak. It acknowledges, and it moves forward.

Having come home from this brief three-games-in-four-nights road trip to hunker down for a 10-game quasi-homestand—nine at Oracle Arena plus one a bus trip away in Sacramento—the Warriors are facing the midseason slog head-on with the NBA's best record at 27-5. They have a leading MVP candidate in Kevin Durant and three more top-20 players, all healthy and ready to make another long playoff run.

But for one last day, they did have their say on what transpired against the Cavaliers.

"We were up the entire game. We just didn't close it out," Draymond Green said, who wasn't so talkative on Sunday, answering one postgame question before splitting.

With a couple of days to reflect, Green simply felt the Warriors gave away a game they can't afford to from here on. "A couple of plays down the stretch, we just gotta execute, and we didn't do that," he added.

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Indeed, with a 14-point lead and less than 10 minutes remaining on the game clock, there was every reason to expect Golden State to close out a statement victory on the road. "We made a bunch of mistakes," Green said. "That game shouldn't have even been that close. We should've easily won that game by 15 points."

Green brought up the idea of confidence linked with momentum and how the Warriors not only blew opportunities to put away the Cavs but also committed mistakes that swung the win-probability pendulum with swiftness and certainty.

Green was, of course, asked about the NBA's admittance in Monday's Last Two Minute Report. It decreed that not only should Richard Jefferson have been called for a foul on Durant during the game's pivotal final play, but that LeBron James should've also been whistled for a technical foul for hanging on the rim after a dunk as well.

Though Green himself was called for a tech a week ago against the Utah Jazz for doing almost the exact same thing, he wouldn't take the bait, putting his hand up several times and refusing to go full Draymond on what he was thinking. Finally, he opened up, if only a little.

"If we do what we gotta do, it doesn't come down to that Last Two Minute Report anyway," he said. "Not that I care about that report or not. It's kind of pointless. But yeah, it should've never got to that point."

Who did lay into the NBA's after-the-fact mea culpa was Durant, who stumbled in the waning seconds of the game thanks to Jefferson's wayward foot.

"The refs didn’t lose us that game," Durant said. "We lost that game. We could've been better. I think it’s bulls--t that the NBA throws the refs under the bus like that. This happened to be in our favor—not even in our favor, we don’t get the win. But to say I got fouled and [that James deserved a tech] and all that stuff, just move on, man."

Durant wasn't done:

"So you can’t fine us for when we go out there and criticize them, but throw them under the bus for the two-minute report. What about the first quarter? What about the second quarter and third quarter?

"I think its bulls--t. They should get rid of it. Refs don’t deserve that. They’re trying their hardest to get the plays right, then you look at the play in slo-mo and say it’s wrong. I think it’s bulls--t that they do that. That's full of s--t that you throw the refs under the bus like that after the game. Like it matters. The game’s over. We move on.”

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Now the Warriors, in Durant's own words, get to "move on" in whatever way they decide. Green lamented that the Dubs held their own destiny in their hands Sunday—up so late with so little time on the clock— and still let the win slip away.

With the next 10 games in the Bay Area or close to thereabouts, Golden State has a chance to go on one of those runs that defined not only last season's record 73-win campaign but also the title-winning run that preceded it.

But no matter the opponent or venue, the Warriors need to re-establish themselves as the late-game behemoths they were heading into last June's NBA Finals. Until that point, the idea of them blowing any sort of important late-game lead felt inconceivable. Then came the three straight losses to the Cavs.

There's also the opening-night blowout loss to the San Antonio Spurs, the double-overtime thriller against Houston and now another collapse at Cleveland's hands. All this season and the calendar hasn't even turned.

The Warriors still have both the second-best offense and defense in the NBA and a net rating that would make a statistician blush.

But this team is built for the long haul. To go deep into the playoffs against what figures to be a tough Western Conference, it must reaffirm the mentality that won a title in 2015, won 24 straight to start last season, produced a back-to-back MVP and made another former want to join forces.   

The good news is, the Warriors still have 50 games left this season to figure it out. And Kerr—who has talked about how hard it was to point out mistakes last year when his team was lighting the world on fire, racking up win after win—will look at game film like Christmas Day's to avoid a repeat of June's debacle.

"It's a great tape to have," Kerr said with a coach's smile. "Glad to have the evidence."

Warriors Insider's Notebook

Home Cookin'

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After 18 road games in their first 32 on the schedule, the Warriors don't have to get on an airplane until the night of January 18. That'll be a few hours after they host the estimable Russell Westbrook and the rest of the Oklahoma City Thunder at Oracle Arena.

Two days before that, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the Cavaliers come to Oracle for the first time since Game 7 of the Finals.

Only up by 1.5 games on the San Antonio Spurs in the overall standings, the Warriors recognize the importance of these next two-and-a-half weeks. 

"It's one we got to take advantage of, get some energy back," Green said. "It's been a tough month for us in December travel-wise, but we really need to take advantage of this. We'll get more practice time, which will be key to tightening some things up. We didn't practice that much at all this month."

Top Chef 

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Curry didn't speak to the media on Tuesday, but his off night against the Cavs was a topic of discussion with Kerr, who remains undeterred by his point guard's slight, yet unambiguous, drop-off from last season's otherworldly play. 

"He's a big boy. He's a two-time MVP. He's an unbelievably mature, thoughtful person," Kerr said of Curry, who finished with just 15 points on 11 shots. "He was, I'm sure, upset at the way the game went for him, just like I was upset after the game with my comments talking about our turnovers. So we were all upset, but in the end, we're all together—win or lose—and we keep pushing forward." 

After the loss, Curry seemed particularly frustrated that he wasn't on the floor in the final seconds to defend Kyrie Irving, whose remarkable turnaround jumper over Klay Thompson proved to be the game-winner. Kerr opted instead for Shaun Livingston, explaining that he preferred the backup's added length on defense. (Livingston has four inches on Curry.)

"It's nothing that needs to be discussed. Every player wants to be out there all the time," Kerr said, "but we're going to do whatever we think is best for the given moment."

Erik Malinowski is the Golden State Warriors lead writer for B/R. Quotes are obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. You can follow him on Twitter at @erikmal. All stats via NBA.com/Stats and Basketball-Reference.com and are accurate through Dec. 26, 2016.