SAN FRANCISCO — What year is it? Where do the Warriors play again?
Because for a brief moment on Thursday night, Steph Curry turned back the clock and raised the volume at Chase Center to the same level as the Oracle Arena days.
After starting the game off with a perfect 25-point quarter, Curry put the Warriors on his back in crunch time en route to a gritty 115-113 win over the Los Angeles Clippers.
Uneasy energy filled Chase Center as the Clippers took a slim one-point lead with less than three minutes remaining. Then Curry’s clutch gene kicked in.
With less than two minutes left and the shot clock winding down, Draymond Green found himself on the left wing with a defender draped on him. Hanging out 31 feet away from the bucket was Curry, inexplicably all by his lonesome.
Pass. Splash. One-point lead for the Dubs.
The Clippers answered quickly, but Curry had another bunny in his hat. With 58 seconds left, he pulled up near the Warriors bench after clearing some space on a screen from Green.
Splash. Two-point lead for the Dubs. Chase Center turned into Oracle West.
“Steph Curry was just Steph Curry,” Kerr said. “There’s never been anybody like him. Those last two threes were ridiculous. And then I think our fans had a big part in this win. The energy out there was incredible. I want to thank everybody for coming out. So great to feel that energy.”
Curry finished the contest with 45 points on 16-of-25 shooting, including 8-of-13 from 3-point range. It marked his first time playing in front of a full house at Chase Center since March 2020, when he briefly returned from a broken hand before the pandemic shutdown.
“Going from no fans to 1,500 to 7,500 last year was cool because we needed some type of energy, some type of life in there,” Curry said. “But tonight was different.”
Perhaps this explosion was predictable.
After he went 5-for-21 and recorded a “trash” triple-double in the season opener against the Los Angeles Lakers, Curry seemed due for a hot shooting night.
“He didn’t miss a shot today at shootaround,” Green said. “You kinda knew it was coming.”
"I'm not worried about my shot," Curry said. "Ever."
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Curry dropped the hammer on the Clippers, but he had plenty of support in the fourth quarter, too. Adding to the nostalgic feeling -- Curry found himself alongside Andre Iguodala and Green with the game hanging in the balance.
In the middle of the fourth quarter, the defense clasped down on the Clippers and let the Warriors offense go on a 9-0 run, capped off by a go-ahead 3-pointer from birthday boy Damion Lee with 5:55 left.
Kerr said the fourth-quarter defense was “instrumental” to the victory. Green said he loved the feeling of having Iguodala by his side to close out a victory.
“It’s incredible to have him back,” Green said. “He just makes the right plays. … He makes the game really easy for guys around him and it’s great to have him back here. He’ll help us. Obviously, he’s helped these first two games, but he’ll help us a lot throughout the course of the season.”
Curry, Green and Iguodala for the win. Again, what year is it?
