In typical Warriors 3rd quarter fashion, the Warriors offensive execution was near perfection. With an array of drive and dump passes in the paint, the Warriors were man handling them in every which way. David Lee and Andris Biedrins exposed Amar’e as the poor defender as he is. Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry were getting easy layups and floaters in the paint.
Then the meltdown happened once again.
Upon hitting their 19 point lead, the Warriors took three poor perimeter shots and then stopped moving their feet on defense, instead reaching for fouls. Raymond Felton was the beneficiary of such poor defense as he went to the line on several occasion as did Danillo Gallinari, the flat-footed Italian.
What happened during this third quarter was exactly what we saw in Toronto and in Detroit. Upon building a comfortable lead, the Warriors got sloppy on defense and stopped running their offense. As the momentum swing began happening, the Warriors soon began to rely on one-on-one offense from Ellis and Curry, with poor results.