Still coming up short

After the Warriors' 104-88 loss to Oklahoma City on Monday night at the Ford Center, Monta Ellis ambled out of the shower, sat at his locker and blankly stared at nothing in particular for a full minute. "I was just in my own little world," said Ellis, who scored a game-high 31 points and limited Kevin Durant to 9-for-24 shooting. Ellis has been largely left alone as the Warriors have lost six of their last seven, including their first four-game losing streak of the season. The guard is being asked to guard opponents' best players, act as the team's No. 1 scoring option and play close to 48 minutes a night. "Without question, that's too much to ask," acting head coach Keith Smart said. "We've got to address that and get somebody else playing well enough to support him." The Warriors are without centers Andris Biedrins groin/abdomen and Ronny Turiaf knee and were missing three-point specialist Anthony Morrow, whose flight was delayed in a return from a family member's funeral in North Carolina. They're not getting Kelenna Azubuike knee, Brandan Wright shoulder or Raja Bell wrist back this season. "We can't try to wait for guys to come back," Ellis said. "We have to do it now. By the time we get our whole team back, it'll be the playoff hunt. We've got to find a way to turn this thing around before then." Instead, they're consistently letting opponents turn it around. The Warriors had a nine-point first-half lead and were tied 62-62 with 5:21 remaining in the third quarter. They made one of their next four field-goal attempts, committed three turnovers and were called for three technical fouls as the Thunder took a 75-65 lead with 1:24 left in the third. The Warriors had 20 turnovers and a season-low 12 assists. They spent long stretches standing and watching the ball-handler, weren't moving the ball to open shooters and missed many of their best looks. "When you have 20 turnovers, you're not going to have a chance against anyone," Smart said. "We tried to force things in areas where we didn't have anything available. Turning the ball over fed their runs and fed their high-energy crowd." Ellis, who shot 12-for-28 and had nine turnovers, tried to take matters into his own hands when it became obvious Stephen Curry was his only other option. Curry had a personal-high 22 points, but Ellis tried to shoulder more of the load when there was nowhere else to turn. Vladimir Radmanovic went 1-for-9, Anthony Randolph went 2-for-6, and C.J. Watson and Corey Maggette each shot 3-for-7. Maggette, who was ejected for arguing a series of calls with 4:07 left in the third, declined to comment for fear of another fine. Ellis scored at least 30 points for the sixth time in the last nine games. Stephen Curry's celebrity appears to have stretched beyond the Bay Area and North Carolina, where he played in high school and college. Oklahoma City marked the 11th consecutive road venue that included at least one fan wearing a replica of Curry's No. 30 Davidson jersey. - Rusty SimmonsUp next Who: at Nets 1-19 When: 4:30 p.m. Wednesday TV/Radio: CSNBA/1050 Of note: New Jersey had the worst start in NBA history, losing its first 18 games before beating Charlotte on Friday. ... Kiki Vandeweghe is 1-1 since becoming interim head coach after Lawrence Frank was fired. ... The Nets are being outscored by an average of 10.4 points a game and rank last in the league in scoring 87.6, field-goal shooting 41.0 and assists 16.3. Unfashionably late Anthony Morrow on Monday couldn't re-create the drama of Derek Fisher's late-game heroics in the 2007 playoffs. Morrow, whose flight was delayed from North Carolina after attending a family member's funeral, didn't make it to Oklahoma City in time to play in the Warriors' game against the Thunder. During pregame, his teammates were hoping for something like Utah got from Fisher two years ago. After his daughter had surgery to remove a cancerous tumor in her eye, Fisher flew from New York City. He arrived in the third quarter and hit an overtime-forcing three-pointer in Utah's Game 2 win over the Warriors .