The Warriors didn’t win Game 4.
And they didn’t deserve to win the contest, either.
Nor did they deserve a sweep of the Dallas Mavericks in this Western Conference Finals series. The Mavs were too good to be pushed aside in four.
But the Warriors did do something at the end of a blowout game that could well prove prescient for the remainder of this series, the NBA Finals, and the years of Warriors’ basketball to come:
They made it close.
Specifically, the kids made it close.
Jordan Poole is 22 years old. Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody are 19-year-old rookies. And there they were, making the Mavericks sweat more than the American Airlines Arena roof.
Those three youngins, along with Nemanja Bjelica and Damion Lee, outscored the Mavericks — who had led by as much as 29 points in the second half — by 21 points in their eight-and-a-half minutes of play to start the fourth quarter. They cut the lead down to eight with 3:22 to play in the fourth.
Ultimately, the deficit was always going to be just a bit too large to overcome. Dallas won 119-109.
But Poole and the Gang turned what was going to be an easy, blowout win for the Mavericks into a game where Dallas had to re-insert their starters in the middle of the frame. The Warriors’ kids played so well that Golden State re-inserted their starters.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr went back to his starters after Kuminga’s 3-pointer brought about a single-digit game. It was a questionable decision — why go away from the players that made a blowout contest a game the Warriors had a chance to win?
But Kerr said that the decision to return to Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins was pre-determined.
“With about five minutes left, I think we cut it to 14 or so. And I kind of looked at the other coaches, I looked at Steph, and we just decided if it gets manageable and possible, then let’s do it,” Kerr said. “[It] felt like we had a shot with… three and a half minutes left when we put Steph and Wiggs and Klay in. I also felt like the group that had played that great run in the fourth quarter, maybe was getting a little tired there. And so just made the decision to see if we can pull off a miracle.”
They didn’t pull off the miracle.
But while it’s not a win on the box score, it is unquestionably a not-so-small victory in a game where the Warriors didn’t have many.
The anatomy of the comeback was straightforward. The Warriors kept playing — and kept making shots (12-of-15 during the blowout unit’s minutes) — and the Mavericks went cold.
The latter was expected. Dallas was red hot from the opening tip.
The former? Well, that says something about the Warriors and their young, inexperienced players.
(I do need to apologize to Lee and Bjelica before we go any further. Their contributions to this solid stretch are being overlooked because of their age and experience. It’s not fair and both deserve a tip of the cap for their professional play Tuesday.)
Poole has not played well in these Western Conference Finals.
He’s going 1,000 miles per hour and his lack of physical strength is proving problematic against Dallas point guard Luka Dončić and Jalen Brunson on both offense and defense. I don’t know if those facts were overshadowed by his play in the fourth quarter against a guard-down Mavericks team, but the success certainly doesn’t hurt.
Poole is going to be critical to the Warriors closing out this series. He doesn’t need to be perfect, but he has to be better than he was in the last two games, at the least.
I’ve long called Poole a vibes player. Maybe it’s his age. Maybe it’s a Gen-Z thing. Maybe it’s just his style of play — he’s streaky and susceptible to moods.
Well, the positive vibes from the fourth quarter Tuesday could prove exceptionally fruitful moving forward into Game 5 — especially in the NBA Finals, where Poole’s impact will be even more needed, particularly if the Warriors play the Boston Celtics, a nightmare matchup.
Kuminga and Moody were even better than Poole in the fourth quarter, though.
The moment wasn’t big until they made it that way.
But was it not telling that both players looked capable when the possibility of a legendary comeback — no matter how slim — came to light.
That can build trust not just for the remainder of the playoffs.
It can build a confidence that can carry into next season as well.
In the meantime, there’s something else the Warriors can take from the late-game surge:
Space out the Mavs.
No, the Warriors will not shoot 12-for-15 from the floor for many more stretches this postseason — if any — but the five-out spacing we saw in the fourth quarter created clean looks on merely decent movement.
For Poole and Moody — two players that will no doubt be part of the second unit in Game 5 — that’s something to note.
For Bjelica and Lee, who might join that duo with rotational minutes Thursday, it’s something to remember.
You know the Mavericks will remember.
And while yes, Dallas won the game, the positive energy from the victory was almost entirely wiped away from the near late-game collapse. The Warriors will, somehow, someway, enter Game 5 with at least a modicum of momentum, despite the loss.
That’s not something anyone saw coming. And surprises like that have a funny way of showing up again and again in the postseason.
