A wild finish in Inglewood! Well, the Warriors have been burying their free-throw woes deep until it blew up their Monday night game against the Clippers.
11 free throws missed against the Mavericks but still managed a win.
18 missed in Houston but survived in OT.
And before they could have internalized all of this, they missed 10-of-19 free throws. Only this time, they lost 102-99. But HC Steve Kerr finds a silver lining: “We entered the game dead last in free throws. But we also entered the game 10-2.”

Accuracy and rhythm for the most part are missing. Athletic noted Warriors as the league’s worst free-throw shooting team at 69.7 percent since the 2019-20 season. This is after having the most accurate free-throw shooter in Steph Curry on their team. Yet, a 33-of-35 (accuracy on a 94.3 percent high) this season also means 3.5 attempts per game, far too wide and scattered for Curry to make an impact.

Headed into Intuit Dome aiming to extend their three-game winning streak, the Clippers dominated the entire first half. Stephen Curry and Co. muscled a comeback from being 10 points down with 2 min remaining to cut the deficit to just three points with 35 seconds to go. Despite the opportunity to tie the game in the final seconds, a chaotic play led to Gary Payton II rising to the occasion but failing missing the final shot. If not for Kerr who was being discreet about the need to work on it, Curry most certainly chalked up the urgency for the need to address this.

“It’s a glaring issue we need to correct,” Curry said. “But it’s not like we’re going to spend an hour at practice and everybody’s going to shoot free throws. It’s what you do pre-practice, post-practice, get your confidence right. It is correctable. We understand the details matter and (if) you make five more, it can change the game.”
When Kerr was asked in the presser what he thought about the last offensive sequence, he revealed feeling helpless. In fact, when Stephen Curry missed the first potential game-tying shot, and the Warriors were scrambling to find the next best look, Kerr wanted the officials to stop the play. He said,

“Well, it was a scramble. We put Gary in there defensively to get to stop, and he got the steal which was great. And then, we had the scramble. Steph got a look like he was right there. 

“With I think about 6-7 seconds left, it was completely scattered. I was trying to call a timeout, but it’s impossible to get one at that point from the other end of the floor. And as it was, we got a pretty good look. Gary put it right on the back rim. I’m proud of him for letting that thing go and rising up and putting a good stroke. But just hit the back rim.”

But because of the chaos, the timeout was never called and Steph passed the ball to Payton after being triple-teamed. Unfortunately, GPII hit back iron and the Warriors lost the game. Moreover, Dub Nation was left fuming because many believed Steph’s pass was for Lindy Waters III, who had already made two three-pointers earlier in the game. Even Steph was pointing toward Waters before and after Payton missed the shot.

Sure enough, it makes sense why the pass might have been for Waters because Payton had not scored even a single point prior to that play and that was his first three-point attempt of the night. So, Waters might have been in a much better rhythm to make that shot as he has been shooting 40.7% from deep this season.

Draymond Green accounts for himself: “I sucked tonight…”

If you’d think Curry’s miss in the final moments of the game was the highlight, Draymond Green wasn’t too far away from the spotlight either. Green had six of the team’s 19 turnovers. And surely, he was quite unforgiving to himself.

“It’s an issue,” Green said. “You gotta make free throws if you want to win at a high level in this league. Going 9 for 19, I think in the last two games, we missed 13 or 14 of them. It is an issue we’re going to correct.

“I sucked tonight,” he added. “I sucked. Way too many turnovers. Too many missed bunnies. I just sucked tonight.”

There’s certainly work to be done. Sure, it is unfortunate that Payton missed the shot but the play highlighted his confidence to take shots in pressure situations without hesitation. Maybe he will find the back of the net the next time he gets that opportunity.