I already took a look at the Golden State Warriors' poor third quarter performance in their 126-121 loss to the L.A. Clippers in Game 7 on Saturday, but Coach Nick has a great breakdown of how they exacerbated their third quarter struggles with poor decision making down the stretch in the fourth quarter.
If you're looking for a common theme between the two breakdowns, it's probably the centrality of David Lee or lacking production therein that is just sort of unavoidable when looking back at that game. When you look at the clips Coach Nick pulls out, the characterization of Lee's fourth quarter from Bruce Jenkins of the Chronicle actually sounds generous.
David Lee's shot was rudely rejected by Griffin at the 2:40 mark, and as Lee got the ball back, he went into isolation mode and tried to make up for the embarrassment all by himself. He didn't get very far, immediately losing the ball to Jamal Crawford. It wasn't surprising that Lee became an afterthought from that point on.
As Coach Nick pointed out, what really stood out about Lee's performance was that in being an "afterthought" he managed to blow a number of rather simple defensive plays when he was in position to at the very least make a Clippers' basket tougher to get.
Before you go crazy with Lee for Kevin Love trades, the reality is that the Minnesota Timberwolves just aren't likely to make that deal. But to that point, it's definitely gotten to a point where Lee's shortcomings are difficult to ignore and, unfortunately, they really hurt the Warriors in Game 7.
For more on Game 7, check out our Warriors vs. Clippers Game 7 storystream.