Everything was set up for Steph Curry to have one of those nights. He was coming off a game where was just 1-for-8 from 3-point range two nights before. It didn't take long for it to be clear he was going to be much better this time around against an LA team. He had a long history of dominating the Clippers and already did so twice earlier this season.
In reality, the Clippers knew Curry could have one these games. He did, too. The Warriors superstar scored 33 points and made eight 3-pointers, his most since Dec. 23, 2021. But the Warriors also were blown out in the second half and lost 119-104 at Crypto.com Arena.
"I mean, he's so dangerous," Clippers coach Ty Lue said Monday night. "Probably the most dangerous player in the league, the way he can get hot and score the basketball. We got to make him work on both ends and try and get him in foul trouble if we can. Try and wear him down, try to hit him as much as possible.
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"When you're dealing with a two-time MVP and someone that I have great respect for, you just gotta try and keep him involved, keep him in actions and try and wear him down."
Curry started the game off 6-for-6 from the field and 4-for-4 from long distance. He scored 16 points in the first quarter, 26 points in the first half and the Warriors trailed by two as Steph became the first NBA player since 2015 to score that many points in any half while also not recording an assist, rebound, block or steal.
Take a look at all six of his made shots from the first half with the ball in his hands, getting it quickly back in his hands after giving it up, coming off screens and letting it fly with any space created.
The Warriors scored 37 points in the first quarter, with Curry putting up 16 of those. They then scored only 22 in the second and 19 in the third, combining for 41 points.
"Even with Steph getting off to that hot start, we were able to adjust and doing a better job of blitzing small, small pick-and-rolls instead of switching," Lue explained. "[Ivica Zubac] was better in the second half of getting up blitzing and not allowing him to turn the corner. The guys just did a really good job of locking in with what we wanted to do defensively after Steph got off to that hot start."
There are a couple factors here: First, let's go with Lue's strategy on Steph -- one that isn't new from the veteran coach. In the second half, Curry scored only seven points, went 2-for-7 from the field and only made two of his six 3-point attempts. He didn't score in the third quarter until there was 2:39 remaining. The Warriors were down 84-71 at the time before Steph's four-point play brought them within nine points.
Lue used a heavy dose of pick-and-roll against the Warriors' undersized defense in the second half, penetrated the paint and blitzed Curry on defense. He wanted to ball out of Curry's hands as much as possible, betting that any 4-on-3 matchups would be better for his squad than watching Curry continue to go off. The plan was to let anybody but Steph beat the Clippers.
It worked.
Golden State Warriors
"You got to remember in 2017 and 2018, we blitzed him still with Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant on the floor. That's how dangerous I think he is," Lue said. "So that's what we had to do tonight. We had to do a better job getting our bigs up because we were late. In the second half, I thought we did a way better job."
What the coach is referring to is his time as the Cleveland Cavaliers' head coach and facing Curry and Co. in the NBA Finals. The result that time while blitzing Curry was eight Warriors wins, one Warriors loss, two Warriors championships and two Finals MVPs for Durant.
When the Warriors played the Clippers in the second game of the season, Curry scored 25 points in the first quarter. He finished with 45 points and the Warriors won by two points. When the two teams squared off in late November, Curry scored 33 points and Golden State won by 15 points as Otto Porter Jr. scored 18 points off the bench and Jordan Poole scored 17 as Steph's backcourt mate.
On Monday night, Andrew Wiggins (13) and Poole (13) were the Warriors' second-leading scorers. They combined to go 10-for-21 from the field and 3-for-9 from deep. Klay Thompson, two nights after scoring a season-high 33 points and dropping 16 in the fourth, was 3-for-14 from the field, 1-for-5 on 3-pointers, scored only seven points and was a minus-23 in plus-minus.
Blitzing Curry worked this time. So did the Clippers shooting 56.5 from the field and 44.1 from 3-point land. The defense was the much bigger problem. Steve Kerr's rotation this time also didn't do him, Curry or the Warriors any favors with the rest of the roster, especially Klay, going cold. The Warriors led 49-44 with 7:03 left in the second quarter. Curry had 21 points at the time, came out of the game and didn't score again until making two free throws with 1:25 left in the half.
Those two free throws made it 59-56 in favor of the Clippers.
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This was another night where you can add an exclamation to "Steph is the system!" The Warriors play the Clippers for a fourth and final time on March 8 and you can expect Lue and the Clippers to again attack Curry as much as possible on both sides. You can also expect Thompson to have a bit of a better game.
Lue called Curry the "most dangerous player in the league." He challenged Steph's teammates and was willing to lose to anybody other than the man they say ruined the game. That's the coach's perspective.
The players going against Curry and trying to slow down the show could only marvel at what was going on. For how much Lue said, a handful of Clippers players had some eye-opening quotes on Curry and the Warriors. Here they are, from two guards who had an up-close view of the Curry Flurry, and one player who has a long history playing against the Warriors and Kerr's system.
Terance Mann
What's it like watching Steph catch fire and weathering the storm?
"It ain't easy. I mean, it was almost like a flashback of the other night with Luka. They're both great players, and Steph, on one of them I was guarding him. He stepped back, he was bobbling the ball on the way up and still shot it in my face. Made it, didn't touch rim. Nothing you can do about it. He's a great player. You just got to play the best defensive posession you can and hope that he misses it on the contest."
How do you move on from that?
"You got no choice. Next posession's coming. You got no choice. We weathered the storm early. He got goin' real early. But we did what we had to do on the offensive end, which kept us going."
Reggie Jackson
Jackson was told about Curry slowing down after his hot start, laughed and the praise for his opponent began.
"That's what I'm talkin' about. Shoot, we held him to 8-of-13 from 3 after he started 6-for-6. I'm happy the way we won, but hell yeah that's the best shooter in the world. Hands down. If only y'all could see the things that are going on on the court. I swear he lost the ball one time on the crossover on me and then just pulled up on T-Mann. He was losing the ball on the stepback, and it's just beautiful to watch it come out of his hand. Literally, I was just watching it come out of his hands like 'Damn, that's good. Damn, that's good again.' It's just an honor to get to play against the best players in the world. That's something that I took away from it. ... That dude is that dude."
On the defensive game plan
"We knew we moreso had to keep the other guys at bay. We knew that he was gonna come out on fire, we knew he was gonna come out hunting and we just didn't want to allow him to make plays for everybody else. Really, we wanted to bottle everybody else up and fortunately enough we held him to two assists and forced him to four turnovers. There's guys in this league that were born to score and they put a tremendous amount of time into their craft and what they do. We got the utmost respect for players like that, and especially for Steph. Coach just drew up a great game plan. Coach drew up a great game plan and gave us a chance to come out here and get a win."
How do you weather the storm consistently against Steph?
"For myself, honestly, I was like, 'Man, we locked that up.' Especially knowing earlier in the season we gave up 25 to him in a quarter. I was like, 'Cool, he's only got 26 at half. We'll figure it out from there.' Then we were up two. Like I said, there are guys that are just born to do it -- or at least it feels like it. The craft, they put countless hours, as you can tell, into their craft. You got guys like that and they're feeling it. we're gonna do everything we can to make it difficult on him, make him work, try and take him out of the flow of what they do. But when they got it goin' like that, the biggest thing is you can't allow everybody else to also hurt you on the other side on the other end. I think we did a great job of trying to bottle guys up. The next guy had 13, two players in Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins. Steph was really carrying the load. I think our coaches did a great job of drawing up a great defensive scheme. We came out and executed and were fortunate enough to get a win tonight."
What was it like playing in that first quarter?
"It felt like Steph vs. the Clippers. We were doing our best to rally with him. Of course, that's their team. They did a great job spacing, setting screens for him. You got countless shooters, so you have to stay honest and allow Steph to do what he does as well, on top of him being a great player already. ... Understand that it's a team game. I think we understood that it's a team game, kept him working and as much as he was working on the offensive end, we made sure he was gonna have to work on the defensive end. That's honestly why after tonight, I'm like, 'Man, respect to the guy.'
"We were attacking him constantly. We were blitzing him when we were on defense. We were making sure we were going at him when we were on offense and just the way he plays so relentless. He was coming back at us and attacking us and keeping his team in it. Always love competing against the best players. You always want to win. But the longer you're doing your craft, I the more I think you can admire what others are doing and how far people come. It was fun. It was just fun competing against a great team and admiring what their ups and downs were over the past few years and seeing where they're at right now."
Robert Covington
How have you learned to weather Steph's storms over the years?
"Steph is going to make a lot of incredible shots, a lot of incredible plays. You have to just weather the storm and you have to be efficient and locked in no matter what, because at the end of the day he's gonna make plays. He's Steph. The matter is not getting frustrated and allowing that play to linger over to the next play and that's what it's all about. Staying locked in. That's what comes with being a defender. ... The main thing was, don't let him close out the air space, force him into the way we wanted to guard him and we did a great job. Lot of guys came out and really did an exceptional job. That's what really separated us. He scored 26 in the first half, had seven in the second half."
On the Clippers' third-quarter mentality
"We knew they were a third-quarter team. That's what they built their reputation. They put fear into teams in the third quarter that they can be down however many points, but if you let them get hot, let them get going in that third quarter -- it could be game, really quick. We didn't allow that tonight. A lot of guys stepped up and made a lot of big plays."
Anything the Warriors do that surprises you at this point?
"It's consistent, but any given moment they can shock you with something. But they're very consistent in how they play. They play fast, they move the ball really well, they get up a lot of 3s and they move that ball very well. That's the system that Steve Kerr built, that's the system they've mastered. You know what you're gonna get and you know what you're gonna get that night. How you respond to what they do dictates how they game goes. They can shock you, they can not shock you. But you can't expect anything different. They're gonna play the same way every night."