INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Draymond Green, sitting on the podium, looked at the box score of the Warriors’ 102-99 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday night at Intuit Dome and muttered two words under his breath: Six turnovers.

That’s how many times he gave the ball to the Clippers in the Warriors’ third loss of this young 2024-25 NBA season. Two of those losses have come against the Clippers, who have forced the Warriors’ offense into a turnover frenzy both times these teams have met.

The Warriors committed 19 turnovers as a team, one fewer than the Clippers, but their many ball-handling mistakes amounted to 31 points for the opponent. Coach Steve Kerr used 11 players, eight of whom had at least one turnover. Nothing more than Groen’s six.

“I was bad tonight,” Green said.

When asked to clarify whether he was referring to the team or strictly to himself, Green pointed the finger solely at one person.

“I sucked tonight,” he repeated. “Far too much turnover. Too many missed bodies. Yeah, I was just bad tonight.”

Just 16 seconds into the game, Green’s errant pass out of bounds marked him for his first turnover. Green had the ball behind him on the left wing, and while guarded by Derrick Jones Jr., he spotted a wide-open Trayce Jackson-Davis coming off a screen for an alley-oop opportunity. But Green’s pass was too high and the Clippers scored their first points of the game on their next possession.

His second turnover didn’t come until there were 5.1 seconds left in the first half when Green was whistled for an offensive foul while trying to set a screen for Steph Curry.

Although four of Green’s six turnovers occurred in the second half, he agreed with Kerr’s assessment that the game was lost in the first half when the Warriors had 13 turnovers – two more than their 11 assists – yielding 22 points for the Clippers.

“It just set the tone,” Green said. “You hold a team to 102 points and give up 31 points to turnovers … the defense was really good, but you can’t defend those turnovers. Like I said, I was terrible, so that’s on me.”

While the Warriors’ sloppy first half dug a hole too big to climb out of, each of Green’s four turnovers in the second half, despite their sloppy efforts, was costlier than the start of the game.

Trailing by eight points with eight minutes left in the third quarter, Green threw a pass right into the hands of Norm Powell, who then dribbled across the court and found Kris Dunn alone for three in the left corner. The Warriors have been fortunate since Dunn stepped out of bounds.

They weren’t so lucky with Green’s next three turnovers. First, midway through the third quarter in a six-point game, Green’s pass attempt for Curry was snatched away by Dunn. Green rushed back on defense but fouled Derrick Jones Jr., who hit both of his free throws.

The fourth quarter was when Green’s fifth and sixth turnovers stung the Warriors the most.

Only four minutes remained when he threw an alley-oop attempt for Andrew Wiggins that didn’t connect but ended up in the hands of Ivica Zubac, eventually leading to an Amir Coffey dunk. Of all his turnovers, the backbreaker came at 2:48. Green tried to force a pass to Curry for a three, but Coffey tipped the ball and Curry knocked the ball out of bounds in an attempt to save the bad pass. Just 18 seconds later, Powell’s 3-pointer put the Clippers up by 10.

Golden State’s affinity for being careless with the ball can’t rest on the shoulders of one player. For a newcomer to the Warriors like Buddy Hield, Green taking responsibility speaks volumes.

“He’s a winner, man,” Hield told NBC Sports Bay Area. “That’s why we respect what he says and what he does. Even though we don’t think it’s his fault, he did it to himself because I know he feels like he can do better.

“Personally, I could have done better. We all could have done better. But that’s the kind of pressure he puts on himself, and I respect him for that.”

The three-loss Warriors have now scored 40 points in their two losses to the Clippers, giving the winners 51 points. It’s a decision-making game, and Green will take the blame for a loss the Warriors knew was avoidable with smarter choices from the start.

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