The Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers meet Wednesday night at Intuit Dome with everything on the line. One team advances to face the Phoenix Suns for the final playoff spot. The other goes home. There is no second chance.
Before any of that, Tyronn Lue had something to say about the player standing in his way.
The Clippers head coach was asked about facing Stephen Curry in a postseason setting on Tuesday. He did not wait for the question to finish.
What Lue Said About Facing Curry
GettyStephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors.
Lue cut the reporter off before they could complete the question.
“I’m sick of it,” Lue said.
He was joking. But the words underneath the humor were entirely serious.
“He’s just a guy that can explode,” Lue said. “He can score 50 if you’re not careful. He only had 24 last game, but he had nine 3-point attempts. We can’t let him get that many attempts up from the three-point line. We gotta try to keep him down as much as possible. Gotta be locked in to what we’re trying to do defensively.”
The message was clear. Lue is not treating Curry’s 24-point regular-season finale as evidence that he is containable. Nine three-point attempts in a game where Golden State was not fully pushing the envelope was already too many in his view. Wednesday will be a different level of focus entirely.
“He’s just a guy that can explode. He can score 50 if you’re not careful. He only had 24 last game, but he had nine 3-point attempts. We can’t let him get that many attempts up from the 3-point line. We gotta try to
Why Lue Knows What Curry Can Do
GettySteph Curry celebrating at the 2017 Warriors championship parade.
Lue’s familiarity with Curry runs deep. Before his tenure with the Clippers, he coached the Cleveland Cavaliers through three of the four NBA Finals matchups between Cleveland and Golden State. He was on the winning side in 2016 when the Cavaliers overcame a 3-1 deficit to knock off the Warriors in one of the most stunning upsets in Finals history. He lost the other two.
Nobody in the league has spent more time in a high-stakes setting trying to slow Curry down and coming up short. When Lue says he is sick of it, that is the voice of experience talking.
The challenge on Wednesday is the same one that has faced every coach who has tried to game-plan against Curry in April. Limit the attempts. Shrink the space. Stay locked in for 48 minutes. It sounds straightforward. It never is.
Final Word for the Warriors
Lue’s comments are the clearest possible signal of where Golden State’s path to keeping their season alive runs through. Everything defensively for the Clippers will be built around making Curry work for every look.
Curry has heard that before. From better teams than this. In higher-stakes moments than this one.
Wednesday will tell us whether this version of the Warriors has enough around him to make it matter.
Warriors’ Steph Curry Gets Blunt Message From Clippers Coach Ahead of Play-In