For the second time in the past week, the Golden State Warriors (9-11) collapsed and lost out on what would have been an impressive road victory. Even with the offensively-conservative Draymond Green enjoying a nice night (21 points on 8-of-15 shooting), the team could not hold it together versus the Los Angeles Clippers. The veteran discussed what he deemed to be the turning point of Saturday's 113-112 defeat.

“I don't think we did anything necessarily that bad. They made plays” Green said postgame. “If you want to nitpick at something, we could have done a better job at defending without fouling in the third quarter…In the third quarter, we stopped the game a bit. Not only are you putting them at the foul line and {giving them} easy baskets, but they got three titans and you're allowing them to rest.”

Warriors must regain their clutch form before it's too late

The Clippers went a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line in the aforementioned third frame (Dubs still attempted 10 more than LA for the game), as Paul George, Kawhi Leonard and James Harden all had strong showings. Momentum obviously changed, which paved the way for a hotly-contested fourth quarter. And yet, Golden State did not trail until George drilled a stepback 3-pointer with nine seconds left on the clock.

Green has been around this team far too long to overreact to a bad stretch, but a sharp decline will be unavoidable if the Warriors do not remember how to close out games. Although the absence of Chris Paul hurts from a playmaking and depth perspective, injuries are going to be a consequence of this aging core group.

The “wait until they get healthy and develop chemistry with the new players” argument can be effective and is one Phoenix Suns fans will also tout, but the Warriors' current reality can't be ignored, either. With Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green leading the way, more close wins should come. The second-half lapses must stop, though.

Golden State has a get-right matchup against the visiting Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday before entering a challenging three-game road stretch versus the Oklahoma City Thunder, Phoenix Suns and Clippers again.