8:58AM
To Curry, ‘kind of like a blast from the past’
8:58 AMBy Art Spander
Steph Curry hit this one. Not with a jumper, with a comment, about a victory that that was as emotional as it was unlikely. “It was,” said Curry, “kind of like a blast from the past.”
From the distant past, from the Warriors’ championship seasons, five, six years ago, when Golden State was Golden and no deficit seemed impossible to overcome — which Monday night against the Lakers a deficit seemed to be but wasn’t.
You know the NBA. There’s almost no time to dwell on what happened. Virtually every night there’s another game, in these Covid-19 days of a compressed schedule, frequent back-to-backs, sometimes on consecutive days.
The next game for the Warriors is Wednesday night against the Spurs at Chase Center. Then Thursday, there’s another one, against the Knicks at Chase. No time to reflect on a game that may be the most significant for a team trying to find its identity.
The Warriors trailed the Lakers, the best team in basketball, by 19 points in the third quarter, then trailed them by 14 in fourth. And the Warriors somehow won, 115-113, when Curry, who had an OK night, made a big basket at the end and LeBron James, who seemed distracted, missed one.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr was both disappointed with that start and delighted with that finish.
“We had a couple of good days of practice,” said Kerr, doing a remote interview from Staples Center in L.A. “Then we came out and stunk it up. It was way off, at least for the first half. But I liked our fight. We came back in the second half and finished it off.
“Our guys were flying around. We have to scrap. I don’t think we scrapped enough. If we play defense and compete like that, we have a chance to beat anybody.”
Well, they did beat the Lakers, who are the current champions and who had lost only three times previously this season. The game was the third of a TBS triple-header, and as Kerr pointed out it gave the nation a chance to see Kelly Oubre, who replaced Andrew Wiggins as the catalyst of the second unit, the guys off the bench.
“Down the stretch, in order to make that comeback, it started with our second unit,” said Kerr. “We were able to come back and continue building.”
To the public the Warriors are Curry, and he is the star. But Curry and Kerr — and Draymond Green, who had his best overall game so far — will remind us the key is defense. When the Warriors make stops, they subsequently make runs, which was the case Monday.
Curry gets open, free of the double teams, the Warriors get baskets. Steph was only 1-for-6 in a stagnant opening period and was just 8-for-22 for the game, but did get 26 points.
“I didn’t shoot well,” said Curry, “but I was aggressive. So were the others. When we’re aggressive, we’re able to make plays.”
Oubre had 23, and Eric Paschall 19.
Rookie James Wiseman, the No. 2 overall pick in the November draft, struggled, but Green told him, and us, that there will be days like that even for veterans and particularly for the new kids.
Green went to the basket a couple of times as well as going to teammates with passes, and was a major part of the equation.
“I think Draymond is still finding his way,” Kerr said of a man not long ago chosen Defensive Player of the Year. “He was off for nine months. His energy and intensity is what we need to win games.”
Once the defense was effective, Green and Curry worked together on offense, as we remember.
“This was a measuring stick for us,” said Curry. “We have to prove this is who we can be.”
Which they did in the second half.