GROUP EFFORT
With Curry, Green, Thompson and others out, Durant and Co. beat L.A. 117-106
OAKLAND >> The loud applause and cheers bounced off the walls at Oracle Arena. For once, the reasons did not involve Stephen Curry making a splash of 3-pointers. Instead, the reasons centered on Curry sitting on the Warriors’ bench in street clothes.
If only Curry could give the Warriors fans more reason to cheer. Instead, he appeared oblivious when the Warriors featured his image on the arena scoreboard. Curry presumably felt frustrated for sitting in the first of at least four games during the Warriors’ 117-106 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday.
Yet, Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green all sat so Warriors fans would have more important things to cheer about in April, May and June.
“It’s helpful to know the bigpicture plan. The games thatmatter, I’ll be out there,” Curry said. “I have to do the grind work now to get myself back in that position.”
And before Curry, Thompson and Green get that back in position, the Warriors managed just fine to sweep the regular- season series for the first time since 1993- 94 against a Lakers team (31- 37) also hobbled with injuries to Brandon Ingram and Kyle Kuzma.
The Warriors (52-16) also improved their record to 1- 4 in the rare times both Thompson and Curry have sat in the same game. The reason?
“I thought the main thing is I completely outcoached Luke Walton,” Kerr cracked about the Lakers coach and former Warriors assistant.
In all seriousness, the Warriors relied on other things.
The Warriors not surprisingly leaned on their other All-Star in Kevin Durant, who had 26 points while shooting 10 of 19 from the
field, six assists and five rebounds. The Warriors did not just rely on Durant, who had posted a combined 116 points on 37- of79 shooting in two previous games Curry sat after tweaking his right ankle last week against San Antonio.
“I tried to pick my spots, play at a calm pace and knock them in,” Durant said. “My teammates fed off of that. I fed off that energy as well.”
The Warriors also had others crack double figures.
After going scoreless in the first half, first-time starting shooting guard Nick Young posted 18 points. Warriors veteran guard Omri Casspi added 15 points, while Shaun Livingston added 13 . Warriors starting center Zaza Pachulia (10 points, 12 rebounds) recorded a double- double for consecutive games for the first time in two years. Warriors starting point guard Quinn Cook, who went undrafted, had
13. Warriors third-year forward Kevon Looney added a career-high 11 points.
“These games are fun for guys that don’t get to play much,” Kerr said. “When they get a chance and can really contribute, it helps strengthen the team.”
Yet, the Warriors still had another unique advantage that has befuddled most teams. They have turned tight games into lopsided ones with a dominant third- quarter push. With the game tied 55-55 at halftime, the Warriors opened the second half with a 15- 4 run. The Warriors maintained a double- digit lead in the second half of the fourth quarter.
“The priority is still the win,” Kerr said. “I’m not coming in here thinking I’m just going to throw young guys out there and whatever happens, happen. We want to win. We should go out there and win. We have enough talent.”
As a result, the Warriors are 1½ games behind the Houston Rockets (53-14) for the Western Conference’s No. 1 seed.
“It’ll be harder, but that’s not out of the question,”
Curry said about chasing the No. 1 seed. “We still got guys willing and able to get out there and help us win games in the meantime.”
At what cost, though? The Warriors would not have sat Curry, Thompson or Green if that was the top priority. Nor would Kerr have allocated conservative minutes to Andre Iguodala (22 minutes, wrist injury) and Jordan Bell (19 minutes, ankle injury) after missing the past three games with injuries.
“You want to win every night, but you don’t do it at the expense of harming guys,” Kerr said. “You don’t out there with a bad shoulder, bum ankle or broken thumb. But other guys have to go out and compete.”
At least for one night, that became enough for the Warriors to finish with the win. The Warriors will have at least three more games without Curry and Thompson on Friday against Sacramento, Saturday in Phoenix and Monday in San Antonio. Yet, David West could return as early as Friday after missing the past four games with a right arm cyst. Green could return on Friday against the Kings, too.
“We have an extremely talented team that is capable,” Curry said. ” I know those guys are going to come out fighting and try to do their job and help their team win. It’s not out of the question. But if you’re picking rushing guys back versus playing the long game, we know a healthy full Warriors team in the playoffs is something to deal with at home or on the road. So it doesn’t really matter to us.”