It’s been almost 11 years since Stephen Curry won his first NBA title with the Golden State Warriors. He’s 38 years old. Draymond Green is 36.<\/p>\n
It should have been over for this team years ago.<\/p>\n
But on Wednesday, for at least one more night, and in a game that the Los Angeles Clippers were 5.5<\/a>-point favorites, the Warriors gave us all a little more magic and upset L.A., 126-121, in the 9-10 play-in game.<\/p>\n Golden State was down 13 with less than 10 minutes to go in the fourth quarter. At that point, the Clippers’ win probability was 97.6<\/a> percent.<\/p>\n But with the exception of LeBron James, there may not be two players in the NBA more battle-tested than Curry and Draymond. Bringing in Al Horford (who turns 40 in June) certainly upped the experience quotient too. And the Jonathan Kuminga-Kristaps Porzi\u0146\u0123is looks like a more obvious Warriors win with each passing Golden State (or Atlanta Hawks) game.<\/p>\n Those four veterans, playing on a 37-45 team and facing elimination, just refused to let the Warriors die<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the aforementioned 10-minute stretch, Porzi\u0146\u0123is went 2-of-3 from the field, hit a three and handed out two assists. He finished the game with 20 points and 8-of-12 shooting. Horford closed the game and went 4-of-4 from deep in that final run. He looked like he was playing through an out-of-body experience.<\/p>\n But, as has been the case countless times over the last decade and change, the biggest heroes were the Warriors legends both bound to be first-ballot Hall of Famers.<\/p>\n Curry and Green, who are first and second in total plus-minus<\/a> since the start of the 2014-15 season (Curry is plus-6,600, Green is plus-5,337 and third-place Nikola Joki\u0107 is almost 600 points back at plus-4,746), both put their stamps on this contest in typical Curry and Green fashion.<\/p>\n For the latter, it was all about defense. Rob Perez (perhaps known by you as @WorldWideWob on X) described<\/a> Draymond’s containment of Kawhi Leonard as “solitary confinement.” And it’s hard to think of a more accurate characterization.<\/p>\n Regardless of what Kawhi tried, he just couldn’t seem to shake Green. The off-ball coverage looked like a nightmare. On the ball, Green stayed with Kawhi, step for step and dribble series for dribble series. He forced Leonard into a bad pass turnover, stole an inbound pass intended for him and sealed the win by picking his pocket with just over 30 seconds to play.<\/p>\n By the time the final buzzer sounded, Kawhi was 1-of-2 from the field in the fourth quarter. And that lone bucket came with under 20 seconds left and the Clippers down seven. The game had already been decided.<\/p>\n “He’s the best defender I’ve ever seen in my life,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said<\/a> after the game. “It’s just insane what he does out there.”<\/p>\n