Kurtenbach

The truth so often lies in the margins, and it's telling that the Warriors' bench was able to force the Mavericks starters back into the contest to close out the game.

Golden State loses focus with shocking ease. There are explanations as to why it keeps happening, but still no viable excuse for the lapses. It could well prove to be the reason they don't win the NBA title this year.

But they'll be playing for it — eventually.

For whatever reason, the Warriors forgot that they needed to attack the basket on offense in Game 4.

And their defensive efforts were waning, at best.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr

needs to wear this loss, too. The Mavericks were beating the Warriors' oft-used zone defense on Tuesday by overloading one side of the court. It took too long for Golden State to adjust to that. When the adjustment did come (and Dallas took their foot off the gas pedal, too) the Warriors made it a contest.

That's the fun of the postseason though. When you see the same team every night and there's no need to focus on anything else, you can get deep into the playbook and, in some cases, the rich history of basketball.

“They're going to play zone for a majority of the game, so that's going to present a problem for them in the sense of giving up threes,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said. “We were able to capitalize on that tonight.”

He called the zone a “compliment” from the Warriors.

There's truth to that, no

doubt, but the praise might only apply to certain members of Dallas' squad. Golden State's motto is simple, tried and true: Don't let the best guy beat ya.

Tactics can only get you so far, after all. Ultimately playoff series come down to temperament and talent, and as my wife noted last night at tipoff: “That's all Dallas has? Just Luka?”

She could be a national TV pundit.

Like the Cavaliers, Rockets, and Blazers in Warriors postseasons past, the Mavericks aren't a particularly strong 3-point shooting team. They just shoot a ton of them. In this series, the Mavs are taking 45 3-pointers a game — 43 percent more than the Warriors. They were hitting a third of those 3-pointers going into Game 4. That's the break-even point for the viability of the shot.

But Golden State knows you need more than the 3-point shot

to play for the NBA title.

The Mavericks have been getting clean looks from beyond the arc all series. Some of that is their offense and the power of Luka Doncic. Some of that is the Warriors' defensive strategy. And sometimes the shots fall. It's a make-or-miss league, after all.

But for Dallas, they've dropped in one of four games. Threequarters of a game, really. That validates the Warriors' model.

Unless Reggie Bullock and Dorian Finney-Smith, 39 percent shooters from beyond the arc going into Game 4, and 36 percent shooters in the series before Tuesday, want to make 58 percent of their 3-pointers (as they did in Game 4) for the next three straight games, Dallas is going to lose to the Warriors, probably tonight at Chase Center.

I'll bet against those guys staying hot. You should, too.