SAN FRANCISCO — To prevent a brutal collapse and a fourth straight defeat, the Warriors needed Stephen Curry to take over in the fourth quarter.
Curry, shaking off double teams for much of crunch time, dropped 16 of his 37 points in the fourth quarter as Golden State outlasted Brooklyn, 124-120. Curry went a flawless 7-for-7 in the fourth, and the Warriors needed every one of them. The Warriors had fallen apart in the second half after leading by 18 points earlier in the game, but Curry saved them.
“Steph was sublime down the stretch,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said postgame. “That was unreal. I mean, we’ve seen this over and over again, but it never ceases to amaze me, what that guy’s capable of.”
Golden State (11-14) won ugly, but won nonetheless. Cam Thomas, in highlighter-neon green sneakers, lit up the Chase Center for 41 points, but Golden State absorbed his punch just enough to sneak away. The Warriors are now 3-8 on the season in games in which Draymond Green — who’s serving an indefinite suspension — has been suspended for, ejected from or unavailable due to personal reasons.
“(The Warriors) closed it out because they got Steph Curry and he controlled the game and started making shots at the end, and that’s why he is who he is,” Thomas said. “He really took the game over.”
Before Saturday’s game, Kerr declined to share any details about what work Green is facing during his indefinite suspension, but did admit that the tumult surrounding the team has been a factor.
“I think the emotion definitely got to us,” Kerr said. “I would say by the time the Clipper game started, those previous few days were tough on everybody. So I thought we were a little emotionally spent that game…but we’re home and it’s a chance to get recharged and get back on the right track.”
Early on, the Warriors made Kerr look spot-on. Hitting five of their first six triples, the Warriors opened up a 32-25 first quarter lead. In that perimeter flurry, Curry became the first player in NBA history to reach 3,500 3-pointers made in the regular season. No other player has 3,000.
Dario Saric sank two of those early 3s; without Green, Kerr cut the Warriors’ center rotation down to just Saric and Kevon Looney.
As the 3s kept falling, the Warriors expanded their lead with a 10-2 run. Klay Thompson, coming off his best game of the season, again played within himself and served as a suitable running mate next to Curry. Thompson finished with 24 points in 36 crucial minutes.
And despite missing Green, their defensive anchor, the Warriors held Brooklyn scoreless for nearly three full minutes late in the second quarter, helping balloon their lead to 18.
Thomas, whose light to shoot was as green as his shoes, was Brooklyn’s lone source of consistent offense; he poured in 24 points in the first half and 41 overall on 24 shots.
To close a decisive, 70-54 first half, Curry found Looney on a drop-off pass under the rim for a buzzer-beating jam.
But these Warriors need much more than a hot shooting half to truly get back on track.
Maintaining leads has been a struggle for the Warriors this season.. Signs of slippage showed to begin the second half, with turnovers and ill-advised fouls. When Nets coach Jacque Vaughn called timeout with 2:41 left in the third, his Nets had cut Golden State’s edge from 18 to four.
The Nets won the third quarter — a period the Warriors owned for years — 35 to 25.
Of course, none of the 18,064 fans in the sold-out Chase Center should’ve been surprised. Just two weeks ago, the Warriors blew a 22-point lead to the Clippers in a loss.
To start the fourth quarter, Thomas stole a lazy inbounds pass and scored. On a night the Warriors could have cruised, they were teetering on collapse. Brooklyn took its first lead since the opening minutes on a Mikal Bridges 3 with 9:12 left, forcing Curry back into the game.
Incredible shot-making from Curry, plus help on both ends from rookie Brandin Podziemski (19 points, five rebounds, five assists, three steals), staved off the Nets, though. After a second straight 3 that put the two-time MVP past 30 points, Curry signaled the “timeout” sign with his hands to Brooklyn’s bench.
“We needed this win extremely bad, and that was a big momentum swing,” Curry said postgame. “And I was a little bit tired. Wanted them to take a timeout so I could go to the bench.”
Thomas, the professional scorer, tried to match Curry. He crossed the 40-point mark with an and-1 in the lane, keeping the Nets within two possessions.
In one stretch, Curry scored 12 straight points for Golden State, infusing his team with confidence. Much of Curry’s fourth-quarter damage came in isolation. The Nets eventually adjusted by sending hard traps at him, forcing the other Warriors to beat them. Thompson delivered, drilling a corner 3 off the catch, then a step-back 27-footer.
With a two-point lead and a minute left, Curry still managed to free himself. His bank-shot floater over three defenders gave Golden State a 122-118 lead. Then after a massive defensive stop, he leaked out for a layup that decided it. After the final horn, he screamed at frenzied fans — the same ones who had sweated through a stressful second half.
Especially without Green, it might never be easy for the Warriors this year.
“We hadn’t won in a while, so it was nice to get over the hump,” Curry said. Get to the finish line with a win. As crazy as it sounds, with all that we’ve accomplished…I don’t know the answer to how we solve the season, let’s just win on Saturday. And we did that.”
