Curry hits 3 late to beat Mavs 125-122.
Star hits game-winner with 3 seconds left in his second game back after being sidelined
DALLAS >> For nearly three weeks, the Warriors both thrived and labored without Stephen Curry. On Wednesday, Curry both thrived and labored because the Warriors overly depended on it.
Unlike when the Warriors coasted here by double-digit margins nearly three months ago, the Warriors secured a 125122 victory over the Dallas Mavericks after Curry connected on a 3-pointer with three seconds remaining.
Before Curry’s heroics, Mavericks forward and former Warrior Harrison Barnes performed a spin move over guard Patrick McCaw. Barnes then finished over him to tie the game at 122-122 with 12.1 seconds remaining. Warriors coach Steve Kerr resisted calling timeout, allowing the player Kevin Durant called “the best shooter ever” to run the last play. Curry set the offense as forward Draymond Green set a screen at
the top of the key, forcing Dirk Nowitzki to close out on an open Curry.
“I knew it was going down as soon as he let it go,” Durant said.
And moments later, it did. Curry’s 3-pointer splashed into the net with three seconds remaining in what marked his sixth career game-winning shot and third against Dallas (13-16). As Curry said afterward, “I have confidence to take the shot and make it and finish the game” as the Warriors (308) secured an eight-game road winning streak entering Thursday’s game in Houston.
“We didn’t play our best. But we found a way to get it done,” said Curry, who had 32 points, shooting 11-of-29 from the field and 6-of-13 from 3-point range in 35 minutes. “You hate to get on the flight on the first day of a road trip with everybody quiet and mad and pissed off about the game.”
Kerr still sounded pretty upset, though. He estimated the Warriors executed between five to eight plays that became an “utter disaster.”
“It was completely mindless basketball,” Kerr said. “We made some big shots, but we were handing them the ball on a silver platter.”
Before Warriors guard Klay Thompson converted on a reverse layup for a 122-120 lead with 24.2 seconds remaining, the Mavericks went on a 10-0 run during a nearly 2½ minute stretch.
After the Warriors mostly excelled defensively when Curry sat for 11 games with a sprained right ankle, their defensive intensity waned for the second consecutive game with Curry back in the lineup. Dallas featured seven players in double figures in Wesley Matthews (22 points), Dwight Powell (21), Harrison Barnes (18), Dennis Smith Jr. (14) J.J. Barea (13), Nowitzki (12) and Yogi Ferrell (11). The Mavericks also shot 43-of89 from the field and 19of-42 from 3-point range.
After fielding overlapping injuries all season most notably to Curry, the Warriors had more players return to the trainer’s room. They nursed injuries to key reserves in Andre Iguodala (low back and hip strain) and Omri Casspi (mid-back strain). In related news, the Mavericks reserves outscored the Warriors bench 51-18.
“It shouldn’t have been that hard,” Kerr said. “I was smiling at the idea we could be completely brain dead out there. All I could do is laugh. We made so many mistakes defensively.”
Fortunately for the Warriors, they had Curry, Durant (25 points) and Thompson (25) to compensate for everything else. Unfortunately for the Warriors, they realize that recipe will not always result in a culinary masterpiece. As Curry said, “we’re trying to win a championship knowing how important it is on the defensive end and not just relying on our talent and explosiveness in the offensive end.”
“We got stagnant with the offense and a lot of times stared at KD or stared at me trying to make plays. We got to continue to be us with moving the ball and playing with force and aggressiveness,” Curry said. “Myself, I try to lead that at every moment I’m out there on the floor. That doesn’t necessarily mean I’m just out there scoring. It’s trying to play the game the right way, moving the ball where it’s supposed to be and make hard cuts.”
As Curry fulfilled that job description though, the Warriors tended to watch as if they were fans eager to soak in another highlight reel.
“I wouldn’t say the guard is down. But having a guy out there that can go out here and change the game for you with his 3-point shooting, sometimes we tend to rely on that so much,” Durant said. “With him and Klay running around shooting 3s, sometimes we just relax for a second. When a team sees us relax, they try to bust through that door.”