LOS ANGELES — Stephen Curry put the Golden State Warriors ahead with a deep 3 in the final minute and Draymond Green slammed the door on the defensive end, delivering a vintage combo performance from the leftover figures of a fading dynasty and keeping their teetering season alive for at least two more days.
The Warriors, down by as many as 13 points with under 10 minutes left, roared back the moment Curry reentered the game. He scored 11 of his game-high 35 points in the final 9:27, stunning the LA Clippers 126-121 on Wednesday to advance in the NBA’s play-in tournament.
The Warriors will travel to face the Phoenix Suns on Friday night in another elimination game. The winner gets the 8-seed in the Western Conference and a first-round date with the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder.
“This is why Steph came back,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “Everyone out there who thought Steph should take the rest of the year off — this is what he does. This is who he is.”
Curry’s right knee swelled in late-January, and the problem worsened over the next month. He missed 27 consecutive games and contemplated shutting it down for the season on a few instances.
“Most people would quit,” Green said. “Especially when you’re in a position like that — you leave [the lineup] in the seventh spot and you come back and we’re in 10th. Locked in 10th. Most people would get themselves right and do it again next year.”
The Warriors went 9-18 in Curry’s absence, stumbling to the bottom of the Western Conference play-in bracket. He returned to get a rhythm for four April games, knowing that his 37-45 Warriors would at least get a crack at two road elimination games as a path to the playoffs.
The Warriors lost their starting wings, Jimmy Butler III and Moses Moody, to season-ending knee injuries. They were five-point underdogs against the Clippers. They fell down 12-2, and Curry said afterward that it felt like they were in a double-digit hole the majority of the game.
But Curry shook off a difficult first half and found his shot in the third quarter, making three 3s and scoring 16 points in a 10-minute stretch. Kristaps Porzingis, the Warriors’ big trade deadline acquisition, also had an and-1 floater and a transition 3 to keep them close. Al Horford, the soon-to-be 40-year-old, made four fourth quarter 3s.
“We came back every single time they made a run,” Kerr said. “An incredible display of guts and competitiveness and connection. Then obviously Steph and Dray took over down the stretch. Draymond is the best defender I’ve ever seen in my life.”
In the lead-up to Wednesday night’s matchup, Warriors coaches rewatched an early March game against the Clippers where they felt Green had guarded Kawhi Leonard well. They installed him as Leonard’s primary defender and it paid dividends.
Leonard was held to a modest 21 points on 8-of-17 shooting, including eight fourth-quarter minutes where he attempted only two shots, zero of them when guarded by Green.
“Draymond, Hall of Fame defender,” Leonard said. “It was hard to even get shots up.”
According to Genius IQ, Green defended Leonard for 12 half-court possessions in the fourth quarter and Leonard didn’t take a shot, the most matchups defended against Leonard in a fourth quarter without allowing a shot by any player since Leonard joined the Clippers in 2019.
Green then capped the heroics with a pair of steals in the final 49 seconds. After a Curry 3 put the Warriors up three with 50 seconds left, Green denied Leonard on the ensuing inbound and then leaped to knock away an errant pass to Brandin Podziemski, leading to an and-1 transition layup.
On the following possession, Green had Leonard in isolation and picked his dribble clean, diving on the floor for the loose ball and essentially sealing the win.
“The people who say I’ve lost a step say I never had a stop,” a defiant Green, 36, said afterward.
Kerr gave a postgame speech to the team in the locker room, stating that it was one of his favorite wins of this Warriors run that has lasted longer than a decade.
Kerr’s coaching future is uncertain. The 37 wins were the second fewest in his 12-season tenure. The core is aging. Injuries caught up this year. But Kerr felt they would turn back the clock for a night to remind the world what they were in their prime.
“There’s a reason we have four championships,” Kerr said. “With all the wins we’ve ever had here — a lot of them with a lot more at stake — this is right up there. Just because of where we are and our age and the decline of our performance this year and our injuries. It was just a beautiful display of competitive will.”
