Green energy
Curry’s absence gives teammates a rallying point
Draymond Green takes the lead in sparking Golden States, scoring 13 points in the vital third quarter.
Draymond Green sat next to a disheartened Stephen Curry on the Warriors’ bench Sunday at Toyota Center.
Halftime was winding down, and the third quarter would soon begin. And Curry would be in the locker room, again watching his teammates play in the postseason without him.
“It’s OK,” Green told Curry. “We got you.”
Curry slipped and fell at the end of the second quarter, injuring his right knee. He wanted to play, but the Warriors decided not to risk it. Curry — the league’s reigning MVP — missed the previous two games with an ankle sprain.
Abundance of caution
“I feel bad for him,” Green said. “It’s tough. But I told him we were good. He didn’t need to try to play. He didn’t need to force it.”
The game was tied at 56 at the half. Green and the Warriors outscored the Rockets by 21 points in the third quarter and never looked back as they won 121-94 and extended their series lead to 3-1. Game 5 is at 9:30 p.m. Wednesday in Oakland.
Green, a forward, had 13 of his 18 points and four of his eight rebounds in the third quarter. Guard Klay Thompson had 12 of his 23 points in the third.
“Obviously, when one of your players goes down, you want to bring him up,” Green said. “With him sitting out in that third quarter, we just wanted to really bring it.”
The Warriors lost Game 3 at Toyota Center on Thursday 97-96. Green blamed himself for the loss. He said he didn’t have enough energy, didn’t make things happen. The Warriors had a chance for the win in the final seconds, but Green dribbled the ball off his foot.
“I didn’t feel like I had enough effort in the first half of the game,” Green said of Sunday. “But the third quarter, I felt more like myself.”
Thompson had a similar feeling. He scored 17 points in Game 3 on 7-of-20 shooting. On Sunday, he lit it up, hitting seven 3-pointers, four in the third quarter. He also had five assists and one turnover.
In practice leading up to Game 4, Thompson said he knew he would be better than he was Thursday.
“I try to be a continuous player, which means to forget what happened last play,” Thompson said. “My confidence is always high. I knew I would catch my rhythm eventually.”
Thompson said he and his teammates spoke before the second half about playing without Curry. He said they wouldn’t use that as an excuse.
“Obviously, missing an MVP is tough,” Thompson said. “But we needed to play as a team, play resilient and trust each other. No one is going to feel sorry for us or take it easy on us because he is out.”
The Warriors responded well, putting together a nearly flawless second half. Green, Thompson and sixth man Andre Iguodala were effective on both ends. Iguodala finished with 22 points and five rebounds.
Their coach, Steve Kerr, expected as much.
Kerr expects reaction
“It doesn’t surprise me one bit we played so well in the second half,” Kerr said. “Our guys play for each other. I think they were playing for Steph in the second half.
“I thought Draymond was brilliant. He was brilliant at both ends. Andre played pretty much a perfect game; he was just awesome. Klay made some big shots that boosted us emotionally. We got contributions from up and down the bench, which was fantastic, which is what we are going to need as long as we are without Steph.”