Takeaways from Warriors' Loss to Bulls: 1 4th-Quarter Mistake Cost Dubs Game

The Golden State Warriors blew an eight-point lead with 90 seconds left in the fourth quarter, and they eventually succumbed to the Chicago Bulls in overtime 130-124 at Chase Center on Tuesday.

The Warriors (32-33) trailed by 12 in the fourth quarter before going on a rally to take a late lead, but it wasn't enough.

Matas Buzelis paced the Bulls (27-38) with 41 points, and Josh Giddey had a triple-double with 21 points, 17 assists and 13 rebounds.

Four Warriors tied for the team lead in scoring with 17 points. They were Gui Santos, Kristaps Porzingis, Pat Spencer and LJ Cryer.

Here are three takeaways from Tuesday's game.

Green's Foul Costs Warriors the Game

Of course any time anyone says one play costs a team a game, it's reductive. There are several reasons the Warriors lost this game. But fouling someone with under two seconds to go who is basically falling out of bounds in the corner is inexcusable and one of the rare times this subhead feels fair.

If Draymond Green simply doesn't touch Jalen Smith, the Warriors win this game. Instead, Green lightly nudges Smith on the catch, and that contact was correctly called a two-shot foul. Smith made both to send the game to overtime.

What's also frustrating for everyone involved is Green was not part of the Warriors' fourth-quarter rally. He was put in the game with under 10 seconds to go specifically to play good defense and not blow the game with a silly foul.

There are other things that went wrong in the last 90 seconds. Al Horford fouled Buzelis on a three that kept the Bulls alive, Will Richard had a turnover that led to a layup to cut the lead to one, and Cryer missed a free throw that allowed Chicago to tie the game with Smith's free throws.

But again, it's all forgotten if Green plays normal defense for the last two seconds, and he didn't do it.

Cryer Shines Again

It will get lost in the shuffle of another horrible loss, but Cryer had 17 points in 21 minutes and was a team-high-tying plus-18.

He was part of two big runs—one in the third quarter and one in the fourth quarter—and it's clear that defenses are having trouble with his movement and shooting, and that's opening up space for the rest of the Warriors.

The Warriors have him on a two-year, two-way contract, which means they have almost no incentive to give him a standard contract now.

But if he keeps playing like this into next season, they should give him that standard contract and look to get him under contract for multiple years like they just did with Santos.

The Warriors Are Exhausted

The Stephen Curry injury has forced more responsibility onto several Warriors, and the last two games have shown how draining that can be.

Santos didn't have a bad game Tuesday, but it looked like he was having trouble moving at top speed. Yet he still played 37 minutes because the Warriors are so thin at the wings. He shot just 7-of-19 from the field.

Brandin Podziemski finished with nine points on 3-of-8 shooting. He was a minus-20. He's been playing heavy minutes and trying to fill the offensive void.

Green was actually extremely efficient, scoring 12 points on five shots. But he struggled on defense, which is the main reason he finished minus-19.

Green had played over 30 minutes in four straight games heading into Tuesday. I thought maybe he'd get a day off, but the Warriors are so thin at the forward spots that I'm guessing Steve Kerr felt they couldn't afford to have Green sit.

With all of this said, the Warriors had to find a way to beat the Jazz and Bulls. Every team has injuries and exhausted players this time of year.

It's not an excuse, but I think it's fair to have it be part of the discussion surrounding these two bad losses.