Charles Barkley: The Warriors Are Cooked

The Golden State Warriors blew a considerable lead to the Sacramento Kings last night in a contest with significant In-Season Tournament implications, which probably doesn't make the players feel that much worse but it definitely doesn't make them better. The Dubs got off to a hot start at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento but the home side clawed their way back into the game and sealed the comeback win with a wild Malik Monk bank shot leaning runner sort of thing.

It's an unfamiliar sight. Even in the twilight of their dynasty the Warriors are not in the habit of blowing big leads, especially to "little brother" teams like the Kings. Perhaps it is a sign that the times, finally, are a-changing and it's the squad in Sacramento that's to be feared in Northern California. Or maybe it's merely one of those terrible regular season that every team, good or bad, has and how they respond matters more than the loss itself.

Charles Barkley definitely does not ascribe to the second theory. He thinks the Warriors are cooked.

As hard as it to believe after all these years of watching Golden State win, Barkley might finally be right. The Warriors lost this game despite their top three scorers playing pretty well. Curry had an average night by his standards with 29 points on 8-of-20 shooting but Andrew Wiggins finally broke out of his slump with a 29-point outing of his own on 11-of-18 shooting and Klay Thompson evaded the washed allegations for another game by putting up 20 on 6-of-14 from the floor. Yet they still blew it. To the Kings, who are undoubtedly a better team at this stage yet still have the looming presence of years of losing to this exact time over their shoulders.

The surest sign a dominant team is nearing its expiration date is when they lose to teams they used to downright bully. This is even worse than that-- blowing a 19-point lead in the second half with extra implications that the players were all aware of. Curry isn't cooked, but he may be alone among his teammates in that regard.