When the Golden State Warriors blew a 24-point lead in a 128-119 overtime loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday, it was part of a larger trend: their offense getting discombobulated late in games. Warriors forward Draymond Green let his frustration come out when Kevin Durant called for the ball to go one-on-one on a fourth-quarter possession -- CBS Sports' Matt Moore broke all of this down -- and told reporters after the game that he was "thrilled" about the loss, as it would give the team motivation to change their ways.

Here's the money quote from Green, via the San Jose Mercury News' Anthony Slater:

"We have to be better. Period. Executing in the fourth quarter, our fourth-quarter offense has been atrocious. If you can see it, everyone only notices in losses. I actually pay attention to things when you win also. I could really care less -- I'm actually happy we lost today because there are some things that we need to correct in order to win a championship, and that's our goal. So, trying to win every regular-season game -- it really don't matter. I want to see us get better each and every time we step on the floor, and I don't really feel like that's been happening for the things that we need to get better at. So I'm kind of thrilled that we lost because you usually make corrections when you lose. Most people don't look at wins and say, oh, we need to correct this. So I think this is good for us. You look at the Cleveland game -- our offense in the fourth-quarter was atrocious. But of course, everybody's going to look at that because you lost. Or, you look at the Toronto game where we end up pulling it out -- our offense in the fourth quarter was atrocious. And the beat goes on. Trail Blazers -- our offense in the fourth quarter was atrocious. So, until we correct that, like I said, everybody will only say it when we lose, but until we correct that, we'll struggle with fourth quarters. Period."

Draymond Green with a layup against Memphis
Draymond Green is somehow 'thrilled' the Warriors blew it against the Grizzlies. USATSI

Green also said that Klay Thompson was just "standing there" in the fourth quarter, so he was "not even a weapon," adding that the whole team needs to do a better job of running plays that will get everybody moving. Thompson, whose offense is often a product of Golden State's ball movement, played every minute of the fourth quarter and didn't take a single shot.

While the loss to the Grizzlies was extreme, this fourth-quarter problem is not a figment of Green's imagination. The Warriors lead the league in offensive rating, scoring 113.3 points per 100 possessions, but that number drops to 104.5 points per 100 possessions, which is 20th in the league, in the final frame. Some of that can be chalked up to garbage-time offense being, uh, garbage, but there has been a drop-off with the stars on the court, too:

Offensive rating (overall) Offensive rating (fourth quarter)
Stephen Curry 116.6 106.6
Kevin Durant 115.1 109.7
Draymond Green 115.7 105.8
Klay Thompson 116.5 107.1

When you combine this with the fact that Golden State's defense has also been worse in the fourth quarter, it's not a pretty picture. Given how the Warriors' offense stagnated at a few crucial moments during last year's NBA Finals, though, and the fact that Durant's presence was supposed to solve this problem, there's an argument that this is the single biggest issue that they need to fix in between now and the postseason.

Part of the problem might be that, since acquiring Durant, Golden State simply doesn't have a ton of experience winning tight games because it tends to avoid them. In that respect, Green is probably right that this is a good thing in the big picture. It's better to have confrontations on the court and work these things out in January rather than in May or June. Arguments and adversity can help a team grow.

To be clear: None of this it to say that the Warriors are fatally flawed or don't have what it takes to win late in games. For a team with an "atrocious" fourth-quarter offense, a league-best 31-6 record isn't bad. This has been a troubling trend, though, and it's significant that Green has diagnosed it like this, publicly putting pressure on the team to sort it out. When the Warriors play the Cleveland Cavaliers again on Jan. 16, you can bet it will be one of the storylines.