Stephen Curry usually gets a well-deserved break during the primary five or six minutes of the fourth quarter Not Friday night.
In the Warriors’ 115-105 victory over the title-contending Clippers at Chase Center, the league’s best point guard was given the go-ahead to stay playing at the beginning of the fourth quarter, and Curry knew that each one eye would get on him.
Having just scored eight points within the final 58 seconds of the third quarter, Curry drew the eye of all five Clippers on the court, including Ivica Zubac, who tried to live him from 5 feet outside the left 3-point-arc wing.
As the other four Clippers defenders inched toward him, Curry whipped an off-handed transit the diagonal of the court to Damian Lee for a wide-open corner 3. Lee drained the shot to trim what was once a 22-point deficit to 87-86.
“Steph just made a hell of a pass,” Warriors second-year forward Eric Paschall said. “Left-handed. Across the court. That’s crazy. … Sometimes I’ve needed to remember that I’m his teammate. I’m so won't to watching it on TV, but sometimes I’ve needed to remember: ‘Hey. Hold on. You’re twiddling with Steph.’”
Paschall has scored double digits in seven straight games, including 12 points on 2-of-3 3-point shooting Friday. Still, he was amazed.
Warriors wing Andrew Wiggins was the No. 1 overall pick in 2014 and is averaging nearly 20 points per game in his NBA career. He’s amazed, too.
“It’s mind-blowing: the type of shots that he can make and therefore the times that he can make them,” Wiggins said. “There’s tons of stuff that he can do. He can score with the basketball, but he’s even as deadly off the ball. That’s what makes him so special.”
Curry finished with 38 points and 11 assists, including scoring 19 points within the third quarter.
He had a career-best 62 points Saturday, six days before his outburst Friday.
As the Warriors attempt to form an identity, they’re beginning to understand that they always have an opportunity, because they nearly always have the simplest player on the court.
“It’s necessary, obviously, to be aggressive and to attain and to play-make,” Curry said. “They were sending bodies at me everywhere. you've got to seek out that balance: taking what the defense gives you, making the proper play, and trying to urge everybody involved, but still being aggressive and score. It took a moment for it to click. If I can create shots and make momentum scoring the basketball, there’s likely to be some more attention my way. They know that I’m getting to attempt to make the proper play in the least times and obtain guys going and obtain guys opportunities.”
Just two nights earlier, the Clippers had held Curry to a season-low 13 points on 5-of-17 shooting.
They double- and triple-teamed Curry with one among the NBA’s best defensive guards in Patrick Beverley being supported by all-world Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.
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