The Warriors needed Stephen Curry.

As has been the case for most of this season, it all fell on him. If he didn’t deliver, the Warriors wouldn’t win. And on their final offensive possession, with a chance to salvage victory before it melted away completely, Curry was isolated at the top against Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, an all-NBA defense-worthy defender. Nikola Jokić was defending Chris Paul, Denver’s way of trying to keep Jokić out of the pick-and-roll. But Paul screened for Curry, making sure the Nuggets’ big man was in the action.

The Warriors got the switch they wanted, Jokić on Curry. Golden State’s closer backed up to draw the Nuggets’ big man out further as the clock dipped under 10 seconds. This was exactly what the Warriors wanted. Yet, they left Chase Center on Thursday night coughing up blood from their latest gut punch, a 130-127 defeat to Denver. Curry delivered a turnover. Jokić delivered a buzzer-beater from 39 feet, an anvil from the basketball gods declaring the Warriors’ current unworthiness. Another Warriors victory squandered in the search for themselves.

“Nights like tonight are really loud of how far we are from the team that we want to be,” Curry said, “… a competitive team that’s trying to beat the best in the league. … Hold on to that hope but be honest with how far we are from where we want to be.”

The Nuggets are an ideal mirror for Golden State. A measuring stick of legitimacy. The Warriors don’t feel that far from a talent perspective, from a competitive lens. They were giving Denver the business for most of the game. But the Warriors know this better than most: The truest version of a team is revealed in crunch time. The end of close games is the closest thing to the intensity of playoff basketball. Those moments are revealing the Warriors to be well below the elite teams of the league.

The last time the Warriors were who they thought they were, they dispatched of Denver in five games. It was the start of their 2022 title run. Since then, the Nuggets became the champs and the Warriors are 0-6 against them, five of them close games. The difference between Denver and Golden State, which had been on display for the last six-plus minutes Thursday, was punctuated by the Warriors’ final possession. And, thus, it was a metaphor for the season.

“You don’t want to be in a position where you’re having to explain away bad losses,” Curry said. He paused before finishing the sentence. “But that’s who we are right now.”

Caldwell-Pope hurried over for the double team. Curry has seen this defensive scheme a million times, enough to sense it was coming. Suddenly, he drove against Jokić, looking to beat the trap. But his move didn’t initiate a series of other moves. The clockwork this used to be is now a convoluted mess.