Kurtenbach

from Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green.

This Warriors team has taken every excuse offered to lose games this season. Saturday could have easily been another such contest deemed meaningless mid-game.

But instead, the Warriors' core three fought like there was something greater than just a regular-season game on the line.

There was weight to that contest.

And if Saturday was, indeed, the end approaching, Curry, Thompson, and Green fended it off for a few days, at least.

The three — but particularly Curry — were spectacular in the final eight minutes of the contest (three at the end of regulation, five in overtime.)

It was a reminder that the difference between good and great players is the ability to perform when the stakes are highest.

The Warriors' triumvirate has four rings to prove their bonafides there.

And that core can still raise their game to that great level when needed.

Curry was downright transcendental Saturday, scoring the Warriors' final 11 points in regulation and giving the team a chance to win the game at the buzzer with a gamesaving block with 2.2 seconds to play in the fourth quarter.

It was reminiscent of his NBA Finals performances, where he put the

Saturday's late summary

Warriors 125, Bucks 116, OT

Totals 265:0043-100 9-11 7-48 28 14 116 Percentages: 3-Point Goals:

Milwaukee 28

Turnovers:

Steals:

Fouls: A:

FG FT Reb A PF Pts

Team Rebounds: Blocked Shots: Turnovers:

Technical Fouls:

26 23 28 34 22 30 31 14

FG

T:

Steals: 5 — 116 —125

FT Reb A PF Pts

Totals 265:0046-112 10-11 18-65 33 15 125 Percentages: 3-Point Goals:

Team Rebounds: Blocked Shots:

Technical

Warriors on his back and carried them to victory.

But Thompson made big defensive plays and shots, and Green orchestrated it all.

“Championship stuff,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “That is the team that won four titles. They know how to do it. They got it done tonight.”

Saturday was big for the Warriors. Saturday was reaffirming, too. I won't call Saturday a turning point for this team, because they've already cited a few this season, and I'm reasonably certain this team has turned so often

they're back at their original place.

But all you need to do is watch Curry and company fight back in the final minutes of the fourth quarter.

And if you saw Curry's reaction to the win and his clutch play, you'd know Saturday's contest was so much heavier than just one win for the Dubs.

As the final moments trickled off the clock in overtime — the victory securely in hand — an overtly exhausted Curry didn't so much pump his fist as he delivered a haymaker to the air.

It's fair to wonder if the Warriors' top players had to fight too hard for a basic regular-season game. If every contest from here on out will require this much effort to win, what will be left in the tank for the postseason?

But what would there be to play for if Curry and the veterans didn't empty the tank on Saturday?

This organization can push a “two-timeline” agenda all it wants, but success on the Warriors' level isn't meant to be sustained, much less repeated with in-house options. This team will go as Curry and his veteran compatriots go.

He is the timeline. And Saturday's win over the Bucks — and the performance of the veterans down the stretch — gives the Warriors another lifeline. it maintains some plausible deniability that this team is still a contender.

No one knows how long that will last. But on Saturday — if only for a night — it was fair to say that the Warriors will be alright.