Warriors had their home opener within reach before everything unraveled

"There's losses and then there's ways that you lose like tonight, they kind of sting a little bit more."

Sitting at the podium moments after the Golden State Warriors' 111-108 gut-wrenching loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, star guard Stephen Curry couldn't have painted it any better. That one hurt. A feeling that had become much too familiar for this team.

The Warriors lost a total of 45 games last season. The organization and its fans are both well aware that this number could have been smaller had the team taken care of business by winning the games they were supposed to win. Allow me to jog your memory.

In early November of last year, Golden State had an 11-point lead over the Haliburton-less Indiana Pacers halfway through the fourth quarter before surrendering a 21-5 run and letting the game slip away. A couple of days earlier, poor late-game execution against a Giannis-less Milwaukee Bucks team cost them a very winnable game. In December against the Toronto Raptors, the Warriors were up double digits in the final frame before again blowing the lead and losing the game in overtime. Those are just examples. There were more.

Coach Steve Kerr admitted at practice the other day that, almost a full year later, those wasted opportunities still haunt him. He's doing whatever he can to avoid losing games in similar fashion. Not when their goal is to tread water and back as many wins as possible while waiting for Jimmy Butler, Moses Moody, and Kristaps Porzingis to return. So, was this loss comparable to the ones from last season?

"No, no," he said. "We just didn't close the game. It didn't happen. It's a long season, you know, we're going to win our share of those games as well."

This one was different because his team competed. They overcame a double-digit deficit in the second quarter with a strong third. They showed togetherness after their tough loss in Los Angeles. And they were incredibly unlucky down the stretch.

Golden State had a 12-point edge over a young and rebuilding Memphis team with less than four minutes left on the clock. Nothing can explain or excuse blowing a lead in that situation. But come on.

Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong

It all started with Grizzlies forward Jaylen Wells hitting a drifting three in the left corner as Curry fouled him for one more at the line. Then Draymond Green missed an open layup at the rim he probably would convert, let's say, eight times out of ten.

A couple of minutes later, after the Warriors' lead had gotten trimmed down to four points, Brandin Podziemski and De'Anthony Melton collided after the former had deflected the ball and was about to collect it. In a stroke of bad luck, the ball ended up with Edey, who kicked it to a wide-open Ty Jerome – the current NBA leader in total points – who drained it. During that stretch, Curry misfired on a couple of threes he usually swishes in his sleep, especially in the clutch.

On Golden State's last chance to undo the unraveling, Green was called for a questionable moving screen. Kerr disagreed with the referee's decision so much that he picked up a technical foul, which gave Memphis a three-point cushion. All in all, the stretch amounted to a 17-0 run by the Grizzlies. Had the Warriors hit one shot, grabbed one loose ball, or gotten one favorable break, they would be 1-1 right now.

"I think like eight different things had to happen. I think any one of those eight doesn't happen I think we win the game," Kerr said of the late-game chaos. "It was just an avalanche, and I didn't think it was mistakes that we made."

The Warriors, indeed, did a lot of things right. They generated a ton of points from the charity stripe, going 26-for-29 at the line. They fought on the boards against a bulkier and more athletic Memphis team. They won the turnover battle, as the Grizzlies committed 25 of them – which the Warriors turned into 38 points – compared to Golden State's 19.

One specific type of turnover drew Kerr's ire. No, it wasn't the unforced ones, for once. Among those 19 miscues, Kerr guessed that at least six of them originated from illegal-screen calls. He thought the Grizzlies acted like they "had been hit by a car" when running into a screen. As for the last one called on Draymond that virtually put the game on ice, Kerr thought it was clean.

"I thought it was legal," he said. "It was shocking to see that called, but again, all of the flopping that was going on, every time somebody ran into a screen, they just went down, and the refs bought into it."

Yaxel Lendeborg had that game circled

As part of their quest to stay afloat until reinforcements arrive, games like that one – against a weaker opponent on paper – feel like must-wins. For Yaxel Lendeborg, it meant even more. It was an opportunity for revenge. It goes without saying that every rookie aims to outperform the other rookies from their class. Especially the ones that were selected before them. And even more so the ones that beat them in college. Lendeborg couldn't do it in his first matchup against a top rookie.

Memphis' Cameron Boozer checks all those boxes. Drafted with the number three pick, Boozer entered Friday's matchup with a 2-1 record over Lendeborg. The one that carried the most weight: Duke's 68-63 win over Lendeborg's Michigan. Golden State's rookie got some of it back when defeating Boozer's squad in the summer league championship game this June, but not all of it.

"I think about (revenge) every time I play him," Lendeborg said back then. "I'm always going to circle that matchup," he added.

Boozer is now 3-1. Though Lendeborg had outscored Boozer in their previous three matchups, the forward out of Duke came out on top this time. Both rookies had similar games. Both turned the ball over a ton – six times each. Both recorded their first career double-double – 18 points and 13 rebounds for Lendeborg and 25 points and 13 boards for Boozer. And both found another way to contribute and got their teammates involved – the two finished with six assists. Unlike after the Warriors' loss against the Lakers on Wednesday, Lendeborg shared some nice words about his matchup of the night.

"He played a great game today," Lendeborg, wearing a Chris Webber jersey, said of Boozer's performance. "It was a fun matchup. Didn't get to guard each other much, he took advantage of his matchup when I was on him. Did a great job, so props to him."

As Kerr and Curry pointed out, the beauty of the NBA is that you get an immediate opportunity to turn the page. Golden State, though, given their roster situation, would rather not. It's already been announced that Podziemski, who's been dealing with back soreness, won't play tomorrow night in Phoenix. It's no secret that Al Horford, in his 20th season, has stopped participating in back-to-backs. As for Green and Curry, nothing's been revealed yet. But when asked about it, Steph said, "Probably not, but I'll talk to the staff."

Expect to see a lot of Lendeborg and Brandon Williams. Two-way players LJ Cryer and Malevy Leons will receive opportunities. The Warriors will need their depth more than ever if they want to avoid a 0-3 start before traveling to Denver and Minnesota and rematching against the Lakers in San Francisco next week.

This loss might not belong in the same category as the ones from last season, but it left a bad taste. A win would definitely help.

"You might lose a little sleep over it tonight, but try to bounce back tomorrow," Curry said.

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