The Golden State Warriors lost a neck-and-neck matchup against the Phoenix Suns tonight, falling 99-98 and dropping to 13-15 for the season. They’re now 9th in the West. Stephen Curry had an off night, and the supporting cast didn’t step up. After the game, head coach Steve Kerr addressed the problem directly.

“We turned it over quite a bit,” Kerr told the media. “I thought we let our shoulders drop a little bit, energy, spirit. Feel sorry for ourselves a little bit when they made the run.”

Kerr also explained that they’d spent the last two days of the break in film sessions and practice, working on the exact identity that once steadied them last season.

“We were able to remind the guys of how we played down the stretch last year after we traded for Jimmy,” Kerr told reporters. “How he controlled games. When he’s got the ball, we generally take care of it… that was the main focus the last couple of days.”

What makes the loss so much worse is that the Warriors weren’t an unprepared group.

The coach pointed to the things that surfaced when the momentum shifted away from them: sloppiness and a collective dip in spirit. It showed in the stats: the Warriors committed 20 turnovers, and the hosts turned them into 30 points, almost a third of their total points…

That, especially in a one-point game, was the biggest difference maker.

Despite Kerr’s team shooting poorly, they still hung around, but then gave away free possessions that the Suns completely controlled, burying them.

On the other hand, Jimmy Butler was supposed to anchor the team, and he bounced back in a major way today after a quiet stretch of games. He logged 31 points on 11 of 17 shooting with two turnovers. But the control that Kerr emphasized never materialized.

That’s where the unease set in. The Warriors completely lost sight of their plan, despite practicing it beforehand. When the Suns made their run, old habits bit back, and the ball stuck, turnovers piled up, and the Bay once again became a version of themselves they keep trying to outrun.

Steve Kerr and the Warriors suffer yet another narrow loss that felt heavier than the scoreline

For long stretches, this game was firmly in the Warriors’ grasp, looking more like lead management instead of chasing a deficit. Steve Kerr’s squad managed to reach a 14-point lead early in the third with Butler taking advantage of Curry‘s off-ball gravity even on an off-shooting night, and the offense appeared stable enough to weather any Suns push.

But the foundation turned out to be fragile, with possessions unraveling as passes went loose, and the composure that defined the opening stretch slipped away. Apart from the 20 Warriors turnovers, the Suns managed to log 16 steals despite not shooting well, with Oso Ighodaro managing five by himself off the bench.

The constant pressure on the point of attack led the Warriors to let their frustration seep into their body language. When Curry missed, or calls went against them, shoulders dropped, and despite Brandin Podziemski sparking a push and a late five-point play to tie the game, it felt more like survival than control.

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That’s what made the final minutes sting.

Curry tied the game late at the line, and Butler delivered all night, but the same issues resurfaced under pressure: rushed decisions, poor execution, and an inability to close games. The Suns capitalized with one final rebound battle, a trip to the charity stripe, handing the Dubs their second consecutive loss on the road.