With their loss to the Portland trailblazers last night, the Golden State Warriors made it their ninth loss when having a lead in the fourth quarter. Most nights it becomes the Monta Ellis show at the end of the game, but due to illness, according head coach Mark Jackson, Ellis sat out the fourth quarter while the hot hand of Nate Robinson cooled off fast.
But when the game is on the line, both Stephen Curry and David Lee seemingly slip into the woodwork down the stretch, as neither played a large factor late in the fourth quarter Wednesday night.
Lee had a nice and-one three-point play with 3:39 left put the Warriors up by six, but didn’t take another shot after that. Curry managed to make a pair of free throws to put the Warriors up 90-88 with 1:17 left, but aside from that, took just one shot in about nine fourth-quarter minutes, a missed 3-pointer with five minutes to go.
Robinson and rookie Klay Thompson were the main offensive go-to’s late last night, with Nate taking nine fourth quarter shots and Thompson three. Golden State doesn’t have much of a Plan B without Ellis if these two are your main options down the stretch.
Ellis is the ‘closer’ but without him the W’s don’t have many other options if guys like Lee and Curry don’t step up. Let’s see if they can pick it up a bit late in the game during their upcoming road trip.
For more on the W’s head over to Golden State of Mind.