Lowell Cohn: Can the Warriors get back to being themselves?

CLEVELAND - The Warriors embarrassed themselves on Thursday night in Game 6 of this unusual, puzzling, infuriating championship series. Lost to the Cavaliers 115-101. Took the second of three fateful steps to eliminate themselves from a title. Are on the verge of turning into a great team that flopped greatly.

They came apart in front of our eyes. In front of the entire country. An awful sight to behold. These are not the Warriors we know, not the Warriors we admire for their poise and pedigree. This is a team in temporary disarray, a team flirting with falling apart.

They face a horrible fact. They had the best regular season in NBA history, and now can become first team to blow a 3-1 lead in the finals. That's history of a kind. The worst kind of history. The Warriors can achieve the best history and the worst history in one season.

Stark ugly truth: The Warriors were not prepared to play Game 6. No other way to state it. Fell behind 31-11 to finish the first quarter. Lost the game in the first quarter. Amazing. Appalling.

The Warriors knew the Cavs would come out fast, make a run. And the Warriors were not ready. Watched the Cavs as if they - the Warriors - were mere spectators who came to the gym to mess around and break a mild sweat. This failure to prepare was, I'm sorry to say, on Steve Kerr. I admire Kerr. Terrific coach, terrific man. But it's his job to have his team ready. Wasn't even close.

Afterward, he tried to put the loss into words. Hard to do.

“They brought a lot of force to the game,” he said. “We could not get a shot to fall. Then they just blitzed us. It was too difficult to come back from 20 down.”

No excuses for Kerr. Plainspoken as always. The Cavs' force, as he said, was a killer. Well, where was the Warriors' force?

Stephen Curry also wasn't ready. Where is Curry? Who is that man wearing Curry's uniform? Certainly not the two-time MVP. Certainly not Curry the beloved, Curry the game-changer. He scored 30 points. Nice in its way. But he couldn't defend, was a liability. The Cavs knew it. Went at him, flew past him. There was Curry committing fouls, bad fouls, novice fouls. And then fouling out and then getting thrown out.

Kerr defended Curry's behavior. Kerr's prerogative. But Curry lost his cool. Threw reckless over-the-shoulder passes, passes the Cavs intercepted. And then threw his mouthpiece. He played poorly and got tossed for the first time in his life. What a time to get the heave-ho. He is the Warriors' leader. And he led the Warriors to this - the brink.

You look at the 115 points the Warriors carelessly gave up and you think bad defense. Not necessarily. The Cavs' 115 is about the Warriors' so-called unstoppable offense.

Here's a spin on their offense. It is technically, strategically, good but not great. Bear with me, please. It is an offense of the Splash Brothers, and when they can't find the deep end of the pool, all the Warriors' offensive shortcomings became as obvious as an obnoxious kid doing a cannonball in the shallow water.

The Warriors lost two in a row because of their offense. Here's what I mean. The Warriors' defense keys off the Warriors' offense. Score a basket. Make the Cavs take the ball out of bounds. Slow down the Cavs.

When the Warriors don't score baskets, the Cavs grab the rebound and roar down court like a runaway train. The Warriors can't defend that - not well enough. The Warriors need to play offense in order to play defense. Basic rule. The Warriors need Curry and Klay Thompson to be LeBron James and Kyrie Irving or the Warriors are sunk.

I'm not saying they are sunk. I certainly am not. The Warriors have one game remaining. At home. They labored all season for this game. In front of their fans. Win and they complete the greatest season ever in the NBA. Lose and ... well, you probably don't want to think about that.

Afterward, Kerr came to the interview room. Such an interesting man. The perfect coach demeanor. Not the slightest bit of doubt. Took the long view. Nothing settled yet. His team can win it all.

“Our confidence comes from being the defending champions,” he told me, “from winning at an incredibly high rate the last two years. And let's be frank, we were put in a pretty difficult position in Game 5 without one of our best players, And we didn't respond well enough. But we'll have Draymond (Green) for Game 7. We'll have our home crowd. We'll have everybody but Boges (Andrew Bogut). We feel confident that we can win without him. You get one home game to win the NBA title, that's not a bad deal.”

Thompson spoke after Kerr. Worked up. Slow burn. Said the Warriors lost in the first quarter. Called that quarter “unexplainable, inexcusable.” Said if the Warriors lose Game 7, it's 100 percent a failed season.

So, it comes down to this. The Warriors need to find themselves for a double-elimination game. The game Kerr never wanted to play.

And they can find themselves. They are better than the Cavs. The Warriors still can do everything they want, can knock history on its ear. Can achieve everything they hope for, gather themselves for one heroic comeback game, the game the past two seasons have been leading to. Can establish themselves in the basketball firmament as the sun.

“We can do it,” Curry said, his voice determined. “We've shown we can do it.”

Show us. Everything is before you, there for the taking. Will you take it? Can you?