Golden State Warriors 'did not maintain grit' in 19-point collapse vs. Dallas Mavericks

SAN FRANCISCO — Heading into the fourth quarter of the Warriors' game against the Mavericks on Sunday night, all arrows pointed toward an easy Golden State victory.

For three quarters, the Warriors' defense had been stifling. Their offense was in its classic free-flowing form. They built up a 21-point lead at one point and were up 19 heading into the fourth. But as soon as the final 12 minutes started ticking down, there was a complete momentum shift, and it led to the Warriors losing to Dallas 107-101.

Golden State's 19-point blown lead is the largest blown fourth-quarter lead in the NBA this season.

«We did not maintain our grit down the stretch,» Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. «We just let our momentum get away from us ...We can't just say, 'Oh well, when Draymond [Green] and Andre [Iguodala] get back we will be better.' It doesn't matter who's out there. We've got to get better executing under pressure and maintaining competence.

»It's actually good to go through and feel it because this is what it feels like in the playoffs, when you're playing against a really good team."

The deciding stretch of the game started at the 9:44 mark of the fourth and extended until there was just about 1:30 left in the game. For those 8½ minutes, Dallas went on a 26-1 run — the Warriors' lone point coming off an Andrew Wiggins free throw.

Kerr credits the Mavericks' push to Dallas going small and Spencer Dinwiddie catching fire, scoring 10 of his 24 points in the fourth.

«We tried a few different combinations to try to regain the momentum and we just couldn't find anything,» he said. «When they went small, we didn't respond. We missed some open shots and they just seized the momentum.»

«We played great defense for 36 minutes,» Stephen