Getty Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors.
The Golden State Warriors need to keep their eye on the prize as the season nears its end. With the playoffs just a few short weeks away, they cannot afford to lose many games, as the Western Conference playoff race is extremely tight-knit.
On Wednesday night, Golden State pulled off a big win over the Dallas Mavericks. In the final moments, Draymond Green set a beautiful seal to get Stephen Curry an open layup, and the Mavericks missed a chance to make things interesting at the end of the game. After the contest, Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd spoke about how hard it is to guard Curry.
“You look at the split of being able to try to corral Curry. It’s not easy, and he made a heck of a play by driving it,” Kidd said via the Fanatics View YouTube channel. “The read that Luka [Doncic] and Reggie [Bullock] had was the right read. They top-locked. We’ll take the quick two, and now we’ll play the free throw game. Understanding that we got a good look, it just didn’t go down for us.”
It was a great play that saw Green and Curry both play a crucial role. Dallas got a bit lost on the defensive end, and the Warriors stars were able to tear them apart to take the lead.
Curry played a solid game and impacted things in multiple areas of the contest. He ended the night with 20 points, five rebounds, and 13 assists on 9-of-18 shooting from the floor and 2-of-8 shooting from beyond the three-point arc.
Steve Kerr Praises Warriors Bench
In the win over the Mavericks, Golden State’s bench stepped up to the plate. After the game, head coach Steve Kerr had some high praise for the Warriors bench unit.
“We have to treat every game now like it’s a playoff game because that’s basically what it is,” Kerr said via the NBA Interviews YouTube channel. “We’re fighting with seven other teams. Trying to jockey for either playoff position or an actual playoff berth or a Play-In birth, depending on how it all plays out. I talked with you last week, and we spoke about how much every game matters now and how our guys just have to go out and compete and play. We’re down a lot of players right now with injuries. I was really inspired just watching guys come off the bench and play well. [Jonathan] Kuminga was amazing tonight JaMychal Green gave us huge minutes off the bench. [Anthony] Lamb, Moses [Moody], JP [Poole] made some big plays. So, it’s great. Guys are competing, and they’re fighting.”
Stephen Curry Shows Love to Jonathan Kuminga
On top of that, after the game, Curry had some praise for Kuminga.
“He’s showing his ability was a two-way guy,” Curry said via the NBA Interviews YouTube channel. “Being comfortable out there, taking on the challenge defensively, and also finding his spots offensively. Cutting. Using his athleticism. He knocked down two threes in the first half, I think. So, just to know he’s just getting more comfortable as time goes on with what we’re asking him to do defensively, and him finding his sweet spots in our system. I hope he’s having fun doing it as well because it’s obviously showing up in the statute and helping us win, but it’s also- that eye test says that he looks comfortable out there. So, that means a lot.”