By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

Like Goldilocks, the Warriors tried three different types of lineups Sunday. Only one was just right — but it wasn’t the one that ended up on the floor in the final minutes of Golden State’s 89-81 loss to the 76ers.

The small ball attack that Don Nelson has been favoring lately — starring Corey Maggette at power forward — fell behind by eight points in as many minutes. The group one step up, with either Ronny Turiaf or Anthony Randolph on the floor as a legitimate power forward, couldn’t keep the Warriors from falling 17 points back.

But when Nelson put together a frontcourt consisting of Turiaf at 5, Brandan Wright at 4 and Randolph at 3, with 1:49 remaining in the third quarter, he had finally found a group that was capable of putting together defensive stops in bunches. That trio — along with Stephen Jackson and (mostly) Anthony Morrow — took over what had been a 72-58 deficit and turned it into an 80-78 game with 4:26 left.

Even Maggette admitted it after the game: “I think we should have gone bigger earlier.”

The largest group made a difference through its defense; the 76ers, who were on pace to score 102 points before Golden State went tall, shot 3-for-18 during that stretch.

Turiaf’s ability to jump the pick-and-rolls that had been plaguing the Warriors earlier in the game was a huge benefit, as was the shot-blocking of Turiaf (who had two of his five in this stretch) and Wright (who had two but was only credited with one). And Randolph’s long arms turned Andre Iguodala’s jumpers into adventures.

“It’s good because we all have long arms, and we all like to box out and play defense,” Turiaf said. “I think the other guys know that. We’re trying to protect the paint.”

That the protection didn’t extend to the final stretch was due in part to the youngsters’ mistakes at the other end of the floor. Randolph and Wright combined for three turnovers in their last six possessions together. That included a wildly optimistic one-handed, 50-foot skip pass from Randolph that skittered out of bounds, and a travel on Wright with 4:26 remaining when he was caught by 76ers point guard Andre Miller and forced into a travel while trying to push the ball upcourt.

Nelson brought Kelenna Azubuike back in at that point, replacing Randolph. The 76ers went 3-for-5 the rest of the way…