INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Stephen Curry hit seven 3-pointers while scoring 35 points, holding every fan at Intuit Dome in his thrall with another dazzling display of his unmatched shooting skill.
In the fourth quarter of an elimination game, Draymond Green bodied up to Kawhi Leonard and utterly shut down one of the greatest scorers of their generation.
Curry and Green have already done it all and won it all during their 14 years and four championships together.
The Golden State Warriors ‘ visit to the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night was merely a play-in game for the right to travel to Phoenix after a trying regular season that ended with Golden State sitting eight games below .500 and in 10th place in the Western Conference.
And yet both the style and substance of this 126-121 comeback victory indelibly evoked the brilliance of the Warriors’ golden era.
The few remaining men who have been around for the whole ride were thrilled to travel back in time.
“For one night, we’re us. We’re champions again,” coach Steve Kerr said. “And I know that may sound crazy to everybody out there. It’s a play-in game. I don’t care. Just absolutely beautiful to watch.”
Curry put it even more simply: “That’s what you live for right there.”
Golden State overcame a 13-point deficit in the fourth quarter behind Curry, who scored 27 points in a dominant second half. While he took care of the offense, Green took the defensive lead with a smothering effort against Leonard, who couldn’t score in the fourth quarter until the Clippers were cooked.
The Warriors also got stellar contributions from two newcomers. Kristaps Porzingis had 20 points, five rebounds and five assists with an exciting series of big plays — and 39-year-old Al Horford shocked the entire arena when he hit four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter of just his third game since missing a month with a strained right calf.
Curry broke a tie with his final 3-pointer, falling into the front row of Clippers fans while the ball pierced the net with 50 seconds left. The superstar was playing just his fifth game since returning from a 27-game absence with a knee injury, and he demonstrated exactly why he rejected any notion that he should shut himself down for the summer.
“This is what you work all year for, all summer, offseason,” Curry said. “We’re not guaranteed a (playoff) series yet, but these nights make everything worth it, because you feel the anxiety of having to perform when the lights are bright, do-or-die game. … Considering how our season has gone, all the injuries and all that, for us to play the way we did tonight was special.”
Green didn’t score in the fourth quarter, but the Warriors credited their defensive stopper for stifling Leonard, whose play for Toronto in the 2019 NBA Finals is still painful in the minds of Golden State fans.
With Green hounding his every move, Leonard got only two shots in the fourth quarter. Leonard finished with 21 points while having a fraction of his usual impact on Clippers games.
Leonard called Green a “Hall of Fame defender. It was hard to even get shots up.”
Green thought the Warriors could be a title contender going into this season, but it didn’t happen. Jimmy Butler went down for the season in January, Moses Moody was sidelined in March, and Golden State finished the regular season on a 5-15 skid to its worst record in a full regular season since 2012.
But after knocking off Los Angeles, Golden State is one win away from making the playoffs anyway. Even for the Warriors who have already won everything, the chance to do the improbable is irresistible.
“I know we’re not satisfied,” Curry said. “We want to go to Phoenix and guarantee a playoff series against OKC. That’s the next goal, but for us to lock in on just 48 minutes, figure out how to get a win, knowing that the game was not going to be perfect, we were all pretty committed to that. The eight guys that got on the floor all had a part in making it happen.”
