With 28 seconds left in Sunday’s contest against the Washington Wizards, Draymond Green let it out. He paced up and down the court barking at the fans after unleashing arguably his best all-around game of the season.
Down at the other end of the floor, Steph Curry calmly took his time at the free throw line as he smiled and chewed on his mouthguard. Then he sank the free throw for his 41st point, as he put the icing on an intense 127-118 victory over the Wizards, in a game where the Warriors were down by eight in the fourth quarter.
It was one of those comebacks where you think nothing’s changed at all with the Warriors. It’s 2023, but Draymond is still fire and Curry is still ice. When the polar opposites magnetize like that, it’s tough for anyone to beat the Dubs.
Steph did his thing, scoring 42 points and coming up clutch in the fourth quarter, with 12 points and some wild shots in the final six minutes. He played with the fans, falling into the first row after stroking a clutch, off-balance 3-pointer at one point.
“He’s the modern MJ. I used to see this with the Bulls,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “Steph transcends the game.”
In his fourth game after nearly a month off with a shoulder injury, Steph showed that he’s back back. He had the D.C. crowd going wild and even got MVP chants by the end of the game.
Draymond, meanwhile, always has an intense relationship with fans on the road. Especially this season.
Draymond had a fan in Milwaukee thrown out of a game earlier this year, while he also got fined $25,000 for “obscene language” in an exchange with a fan in Dallas. Draymond got some extra motivation from a trash-talking fan in the nation’s capital on Monday.
“He was just talking from the start of the game until I shut him up," Draymond said. "I appreciate it though, because I had nothing going.”
Early in the fourth quarter, it looked like Golden State was on the precipice of another deflating loss. The two teams were tied entering the fourth quarter when the Wizards, without star Bradley Beal, went on a quick 13-5 run to take an eight-point lead.
Again? A collapse on the road? To an undermanned team? A team that’s the No. 12 seed in the East? The Warriors have felt their share of disgust after losing winnable games to the Detroit Pistons, Orlando Magic and Chicago Bulls lately.
Impending doom seemed inevitable Monday, but Draymond just wouldn’t let the Warriors lose. He knocked down a pair of 3-pointers early in the fourth quarter, the second one drawing the Warriors within 3. Backpack Draymond was in his bag.
Down the stretch he authored a quintessential Draymond play. After the Wizards called a timeout following a clutch 3-pointer by Jordan Poole with 1:29 left, Draymond stole the inbounds pass and tightroped down the right sideline on the fast break. Somehow he stayed inbounds and managed to loft a dime to Andrew Wiggins, who was alone underneath the hoop.
Draymond roared. Just like he did when he hit his two clutch treys. He only needed seven field goal attempts to score his 17 points, while also dishing out 10 assists and getting three steals.
Klay Thompson sat out because of the quick back-to-back, but it seemed like a nostalgic afternoon in D.C. Poole filled in for Klay, thriving again in the starting role and dropping 32 points on 12-of-20 shooting with seven made 3-pointers and seven assists.
After playing two games in about 27 hours, the Warriors will visit the White House on Tuesday to be commemorated by President Joe Biden for winning the 2022 NBA title.
Right now, the Warriors (22-22) are merely a .500 team. But if they can find that fourth-quarter fire and bottle it up, there’d be no surprise if the Warriors can’t come back to shake Biden’s hand again next season.
