Dallas

Warriors Takeaways: What We Learned From Narrow Loss to Mavericks

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The Warriors in recent seasons have dominated the Dallas Mavericks, taking a 10-game win streak into American Airlines Center on Saturday.

That streak is gone, replaced by another the Warriors didn't want.  

With the Mavericks coming back in the fourth quarter to pull out a 112-109 victory -- their first over the Warriors since Dec. 30, 2015 -- the defending champs have a two-game losing streak for the first time since last April.

Here are three takeaways from the game:  

The stars faded late

With Stephen Curry and Draymond Green out, the Warriors looked to Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson to take them home in the fourth quarter. Neither was able.

Durant scored a game-high 32 points, but only three in the fourth. He was 1-of-7 in the quarter, after going 10-of-17 in the first three. He played the final 6:12 and was minus-7 during his stint. After dropping in a jumper to give the Warriors a 106-103 lead with 3:13 to play, Durant missed his final four field goal attempts.

Thompson fared only slightly better, scoring seven of his 22 points in the fourth on 3-of-8 shooting. He worked free for a good look on a potential tying shot with 10.6 seconds left, but missed the 16-footer.

Durant and Thompson combined to shoot 20-of-48 (41.7 percent) from the field, including 2-of-15 (13.3 percent) from deep. They were 7-of-25 and 1-of-8 after halftime. Those are tough numbers for the Warriors to overcome.  

The bench carried a lot of weight

The reserves probably realized it would be up to them to fill the gaps created by the absences of Alfonzo McKinnie, Curry and Green. They performed nicely.

The Warriors bench outscored that of Dallas 42-25; the Mavericks reserves had outscored those of their opponents 163-69 in their previous three games. The Warriors' crew shot 57.1 percent (16-of-28) from the field and 60 percent (6-of-10) beyond the arc.

Guard Damion Lee, called up from G-League Santa Cruz and arriving in Dallas less than 24 hours before tipoff, scored 13 points in 18 minutes. Quinn Cook, once again playing behind Andre Iguodala, put in 15 points in 22 minutes, while Shaun Livingston added 12, the first time this season he has reached double figures.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr made a lineup change at center, with Kevon Looney -- who has been the most proficient of the young big men -- replacing Damian Jones, who started the first 16 games. Jones played one of his better games, scoring only two points, but adding seven rebounds and four blocks over 22 minutes.

If the reserves continue to perform at anywhere near this level, they might be able to carry the Warriors to a victory.  

The team was ready to play

Kerr expressed confidence the Warriors would recover from their blowout loss Thursday night Houston. His projection was accurate.

They reduced their turnover count from 17 in Houston to an acceptable 12. They outrebounded the bigger Mavericks (47-46) and had more assists (24-18). Five Warriors scored in double figures.

Durant and Thompson started well, shooting 13-of-23 in the first half, as the Warriors built an eight-point lead in less than seven minutes.

The Warriors were solid for a full three quarters and early in the fourth, when they pushed the lead back to eight (90-82) before being outscored 30-19 over the final 11 minutes.

The defending champs simply weren't the better team when it mattered most.

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