While it wasn’t quite the death knell for Sunday’s playoff matchup for the Golden State Warriors, and it certainly wasn’t a sign that they’ll lose that opening series to the Denver Nuggets, dubs fans became Nevertheless high in weapons about a questionable Out of bounds play call made by coach Steve Kerr in the final moments of Game 4.
The game was to go like this: Andrew Wiggins would set a screen for Steph Curry, who could curl into the right corner to pull a defender away from the basket. At that point, Wiggins would cut to the basket and receive a lob pass from inbounder Otto Porter Jr., and Wiggins would then punch the ball through the hoop.
Only half of it ended up happening. The game was doomed from the start as Nikola Jokic, who was on the bench at the moment, called out to his teammates exactly what the plan was. This probably helped Austin Rivers, who saw the pass coming to Wiggins and stopped play to force a turnover.
Jokic called the game from the bench 🤯#NBAPlayoffs presented by Google Pixel on ABC pic.twitter.com/e3gQkSHyas
— NBA (@NBA) April 24, 2022
But even before Jokic was used, this game did not have a good chance of success. First off, Porter Jr.’s pass was far from accurate. It didn’t help that Porter was there because Draymond Green fouled the game. Second, Wiggins had just shown that while he had the athleticism to pull off a big slam, he didn’t have the accuracy to complete it — he’d only missed a put-back dunk attempt a few games earlier.
Even more outrageous was the fact that the Splash Brothers had incredibly hot hands back then. Then why not have the coaching staff call a game for the team’s top marksmen, whose shots would have left a trail of fire if they had taken place in a video game?
For what it’s worth, Kerr was also unhappy with his play call. Speaking to an ABC affiliate after the team’s 126-121 loss, he took responsibility for what happened: “I didn’t like my play call with 33 seconds left. I put Otto in a difficult position with sales, so that’s on me.”
The good news for the Warriors is that they have three days off before Game 5. They showed they could absolutely dominate this Nuggets team, who had otherworldly shooting performance, while Golden State was sloppy as hell in terms of fouls and missed free throws.
Of course, the biggest arrow in the dubs’ quiver is the fact that no team in NBA history has ever lost a 3-0 lead in a series. The Warriors are no stranger to being on the wrong side of playoff history, but even if some fans believe Kerr should be shot out of a cannon in response to a single bad play call, Sunday didn’t seem to indicate that this should be significant cause for concern… right?