INGLEWOOD — Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green was talking recently about a pet theory of his, the difference between what he called “82-game players” and “16-game players.” The distinction: The 82-game guys were the ones who were fine during the regular season but to be charitable, not necessarily at their best when it came to the 16 playoff victories needed to win a championship.
As far as we know, there’s no classification for “Play-In players,” or “elimination game players.”
But in dissecting Golden State’s 126-121 victory over the Clippers on Wednesday night at Intuit Dome, perhaps it’s wise to consider that championship experience, exemplified by the kind of players who step up when the games mean the most and have done so over time, is tremendously important at this time of year.
Steph Curry is preeminent on that list, with four championship rings and two league MVP trophies to show for it, as well as the reputation as the guy you do not want to have to defend in the waning moments of an important game. Curry played in just 43 of Golden State’s 82 games because of injury – which, with Jimmy Butler’s season-ending injury, explains the Warriors’ 37-45 record and presence in the play-in game.
But he scored 35 points on Wednesday night, 11 in the fourth quarter, including a deep step-back 3-pointer with 50.4 seconds left to break a 117-117 tie and start a 7-0 run that put his team ahead 124-117 with 32.5 seconds left.
“Everyone out there who thought Steph should have taken the rest of the year off, this is what he does; this is who he is,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “If he can compete, he is going to compete, and it was incredible to watch.”
Kristaps Porzingis, who won a championship with Boston in 2024, scored 20 points and contributed, in a span of 1:06 earlier in the fourth quarter, two baskets, a free throw and a pretty pass to Curry off a backdoor cut during a 14-5 run that chopped away at a 13-point Clippers lead.
Al Horford, another member of that ’24 Celtics team that hung that franchise’s 18th banner, had four 3-pointers among his 14 points, all in the fourth quarter and all critical to the Warriors’ comeback. And Green himself might only have had seven points but he also had six rebounds, nine assists and four steals.
“Whether it’s a Play-In game or a Game 7 of a playoff series, it’s the same feeling,” Kerr said in his pre-game remarks on Wednesday. “It’s like you know your season is over if you lose. And you don’t want that to happen, you want to do everything possible to win. But these guys have been through the wringer and they understand, you gotta settle in and lose yourself in the game and compete.”
The distinction, as Green told The Athletic earlier this week, involves which guys stand up at crunch time – the postseason, of course, being the crunchiest of crunch time – and which guys don’t.
“You realize the difference in intensity” between regular season and playoffs early in a career,” he said. “You realize the difference in the amount of focus it requires. You realize how much more you have to raise your level than the regular season. … And then, you see it, and you start to see people fold. Guys who you’ve watched all regular season, and then, they get in the playoffs, and you’re like, ‘Whoa, who is that?’ And to have the level of success that we’ve had, you quickly realize, ‘Ahh.’”
No, these Play-In round games are not considered part of the NBA playoffs. But the loser goes home, which makes the stakes high enough. And the guys who can handle the final quarter, and the final minutes, are all the more important in such situations.
“Those last six minutes are really important,” Clippers point guard Darius Garland said. “Most of those guys (on the Warriors) have been in a lot of late-game situations like that. So yeah, it’s super important just to take care of the ball and get quality shots, have the ball in the right people’s hands that you really want to make plays for.
“So yeah. Golden State, man, they had that championship pedigree. They really displayed it today.”
And not on just one side of the ball. Kawhi Leonard, who has his own championship pedigree – NBA titles with San Antonio and Toronto and two Finals MVP awards – lauded the Warriors’ defense.
“That was it right there,” said Leonard, who finished with 21 points but had just one basket on two shots in the fourth quarter.
“You know, they had a great game plan, just being physical all game, making sure I don’t get no catch-and-shoot shots, blitzing every pick and roll, getting into the post and seeing two bodies. And then Draymond, Hall-of-Fame defender. So, yeah, it was hard to even get shots up.”
This felt like a playoff game – and at some points, with a large contingent of Warriors fans attempting to outshout the Clippers’ faithful in the crowd of 17,927, it almost felt like a Raiders-Chargers game played in L.A.
And never mind that Golden State came into this game off of a poor regular season (with explanation, as noted above). Or that the Clippers had to dig themselves out of a 6-21 hole, going 36-19 – one game better than Coach Ty Lue’s projection on Dec. 20 – and falling from the No. 8 seed, and two chances to win one game in the Play-In, to No. 9 and an elimination game because of a tiebreaker.
It’s also worth noting that the Clippers were a team in transition as the season progressed, with Garland (acquired in the pre-deadline trade that sent James Harden to Cleveland) and Bennedict Mathurin (coming in the trade that sent Ivica Zubac to Indiana) worked into the rotation.
“I’ve had one practice with this team ever since the trade,” said Garland, who dealt with injuries in the immediate aftermath of the trade.
“So it was really just going off all basketball instincts. Just trying to figure out which ways we can attack the double-team with Kawhi. But just trying to make plays from there. I think we got some really good shots out of it. Brook (Lopez) made a couple 3s, Bay (Mathurin) made a few 3s on the double-team.”
The Warriors aren’t in yet. They simply qualified for a Friday night appointment in Phoenix, with the loser going home and the winner getting to face No. 1 seed and defending champ Oklahoma City in a best-of-seven first-round series. Some reward.
The Clippers?
“Yeah, go back and watch film on this and try to come back next year,” Garland said. “Push past the Play-In game, man. Just, that’s all we can do right now.”
Maybe that leads to the best lesson they can take out of this season: Whatever you do, don’t start the season 6-21.
jalexander@scng.com
