A Warriors season that was defined by heartbreak before a ball was even tipped ended with a devastating defeat Friday night at Chase Center.
“A crushing way to go out,” head coach Steve Kerr said.
The Warriors, looking drained and tired from the very start, lost an elimination game to the Memphis Grizzlies, falling 117-112 in overtime. The Grizzlies will move on to play the top-seeded Utah Jazz. The Warriors, for the second straight season, won’t be participating in the playoffs.
It wasn’t just a loss for the Warriors but one for the NBA and the viewing public as well. Nothing against Ja Morant, who had a coming out party with a 35-point game, but the league is better when Stephen Curry is playing. When he is dazzling and shimmying, creating brilliant chaos and leaving mouths agape.
He did a little of that on Friday night, but it wasn’t enough. And it looked, from the outside, like the push to get to this point, combined with the brutal second half against the Lakers on Wednesday, simply took too much out of Curry and out of the Warriors.
“We had two straight gut punches,” Kerr said.
In the same way he put the Warriors on his back in the final six weeks of the regular season and carried them into this minefield of mid-May, Curry tried to carry his team Friday night into a first-round series with the Utah Jazz.
He played 47 of the 53 minutes, unheard of for him at this stage of his career. He scored 39 points. But he also, at times, looked weary. Was sloppy with the ball. And didn’t get enough help.
A team that had taken months and many awkward growing pains to find a rhythm and a form, ultimately came apart at the seams in the final game of the season.
“It’s weird all the way around,” Curry said.
Before the game, he had said, “It’s the biggest game of the year,” referring to the do-or-die game against the Grizzlies, the second critical meeting in the span of six days.
Make that the biggest game in two years, since the final night at Oracle Arena in Oakland, when Klay Thompson tore his ACL and Toronto eliminated the Warriors in the NBA Finals. That seems so very, very long ago.
And it was hard not to look at the guy in the neon green shirt on the Warriors bench on Friday and wonder what might have been. An armchair psychologist could read the frustration emanating from Klay Thompson, who tore his Achilles tendon before the season started. He threw his hands in the air, slumped in despair, paced behind the bench and looked at times like he planned to rush onto the court and — if not try to play — at least argue a call.
“He’s part of our DNA,” Curry said. “You saw tonight how much he misses this enviroment.”
This was the first postseason game at Chase Center, and the 7,500 in the building weren’t Roaracle loud but gave a good effort. Some fans had trotted out well-worn “We Believe” shirts. One clever fan created a “ReBelieve” sign.
But faith wasn’t enough. The crowd seemed confused by a team that didn’t look ready. From the first quarter, the Warriors threw the ball around and looked sloppy (their 21 turnovers led to 22 Memphis points).
Were they too hyped to be an elimination game? Too tired from the draining loss to the Lakers? Is it just too hard to beat a good team twice in a week with so much on the line?
“I think it was fatigue,” Kerr said. “This was as wild as we have looked.”
The Warriors trailed virtually the entire game, pushing the boulder uphill all night. But because they are the Warriors, you knew there was always a chance.
Down 10 with 3 ½ minutes left, the obituaries were already written for Golden State when Draymond Green hit two shots to cut the deficit to five. Jordan Poole was fouled shooting a three-pointer and coolly hit all three of his free throws. Curry made a basket and was fouled and suddenly it was a tie game. Green had a chance to win it at the buzzer, but his shot didn’t go and the game went to overtime.
But the Warriors’ demise was only delayed. Shots didn’t go in. Morant flexed his young muscles. And the season came to a puzzling, disappointing end.
In a regular year, without this odd play-in format, the Warriors would have secured the eighth seed with the win last Sunday and would have begun their series with the Jazz. But to their credit, no one complained about the road they had to take. It was small potatoes compared to everything the team has been through the past two years of injury, loss and a pandemic that sharpened everyone’s priorities.
There were so many times this season when it looked like the Warriors wouldn’t get to this point. In late March, this flawed, erratic team seemed finished. But the brilliance of Curry, an MVP candidate, combined with his defensive counterpart Green, pushed the team to unexpected levels.
In the past few weeks, the Warriors became must-watch entertainment, with Curry playing at an astounding level. But the flaws and holes were still there, just spackled over with brilliance.
Ultimately, the Warriors lost. And so did the entire NBA.
Ann Killion is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: akillion@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @annkillion
"lose" - Google News
May 22, 2021 at 11:48AM
https://ift.tt/3oEzIEi
As Warriors, Stephen Curry lose in OT, so do fans and NBA - San Francisco Chronicle
"lose" - Google News
https://ift.tt/3fa3ADu https://ift.tt/2VWImBB
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "As Warriors, Stephen Curry lose in OT, so do fans and NBA - San Francisco Chronicle"
Post a Comment