Kerr argued that Denver should have been awarded a technical foul, which would have given the Warriors a free throw and possession of the ball. Instead, crew chief Tyler Ford called for a jump ball with 1.9 seconds left in the game and the Warriors trailing by four.
“Braun called a timeout,” Kerr said. “He dropped to the ground, turned around. Everybody saw it except the three guys we hired to do the games, and that makes me angry. That’s a technical foul. They have no timeout left. We shot a free throw. We shot , we take the ball and we have a chance to win the game.
“They [the officials] They all told me they hadn’t seen it. …It’s up to the referees to see [it]. That’s why we have three of them. Someone has to see it. So yeah, that made me angry.”
Ford told a pool reporter after the game that the Nuggets did not receive a technical foul because none of the referees saw Braun clearly call a timeout.
“Christian Braun never fully or clearly called a timeout,” Ford said. “Therefore, the timeout was not recognized.”
Braun said he knew his team had no timeout left because Denver coach Michael Malone and his staff talked about it.
“No,” Braun said when asked if he called a timeout. “It might have seemed like it. I was losing the ball a little bit on the ground. My hands moved, but the referees didn’t call it.”
It was a frustrating ending for the Warriors, who lost their fifth straight game by blowing a six-point lead in the final 2:32. Denver trailed Golden State by 11 with 6:13 left, but finished the game on a 21-6 run.
The Warriors played without Draymond Green, who was sidelined with tightness in his left calf and will undergo an MRI on Wednesday, according to Kerr.
With Green watching from the bench, the Warriors couldn’t stop reigning MVP Nikola Jokic, who finished with 38 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 steals.
Stephen Curry scored 24 points, 11 assists and 7 rebounds for the Warriors, who now have to travel to Houston next week for an NBA Cup quarterfinal game. Had the Warriors won on Tuesday, they would have hosted the Dallas Mavericks next week.
“We didn’t lose because of that,” Kerr said of Braun’s play. “We lost because we didn’t close out. Again. This is like the fifth game in a row we’ve… maybe not all five. [losses] — but in most of these games in this stretch, we’re not closing, we’re not executing, we’re not making good decisions and we have to get better.”
The Warriors blew a 17-point lead in the final 13:55 in a loss at San Antonio on Nov. 23. They continued to blow an 18-point third-quarter lead against the Brooklyn Nets at home on November 25.
After starting the season 12-3, Golden State is now 12-8 and has back-to-back home games this weekend against Houston and Minnesota.
“We turned the ball over three or four times in the last few minutes of the first half and we lost a 12-point lead because we tried to hit home runs,” Kerr said. “And this league is relentless. If you think you’re going to be featured, show everyone what special play you can make, it’s going to be a turnover. We’ve got to hit singles, we’ve got to make simple decisions. And when we do that, we’re really good.
“…We have to become a better decision-making team. And that’s frustrating right now. Bad decisions are leading to bad possessions, which is leading to this losing streak.”
