Getty Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors.
Stephen Curry nearly cost the Golden State Warriors their Game 4 win over the Sacramento Kings on Sunday afternoon. The star guard called a timeout with 42.4 seconds to play in the fourth quarter, when the Warriors had already used all seven of theirs for the game. Curry’s mistake resulted in a turnover, as well as a technical free throw for the Kings.
Steph was given a technical foul for calling a timeout when the Warriors had none left
Golden State was able to hold on for the 126-125 victory, after Sacramento’s Harrison Barnes failed to knock down an open 3-point attempt to take the lead.
Following the series-tying win, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr discussed the near-catastrophic error by his superstar guard, taking blame for the mishap.
“As we’re exiting the huddle, that’s on me. I gotta remind the guys we’re out of timeouts,” Kerr said via the NBA Interviews YouTube channel. “I didn’t say that, and so Steph wasn’t aware. so that’s on me for not making that clear. And then on that play we had all four of the other guys running to the other end and they hit Steph in the backcourt, we didn’t have a trail man. We gotta handle the pressure better late game, take care of the ball. The timeout is 100% on me.”
Stephen Curry Discusses Mistake After Warriors Beat Kings
Curry actually took time to break down what he was thinking when he called a timeout that the Dubs didn’t have. He explained that he hadn’t realized that Golden State lost their final timeout when they lost their coach’s challenge late in the fourth quarter.
“I knew we challenged but I didn’t realize when we lost the challenge that we didn’t have any timeouts left,” Curry confessed, via House of Highlights.
The 35-year-old added that he actually felt like he’d made a brilliant decision to call the timeout, rather than trying to beat Sacramento’s trap defense.
“I ain’t gonna lie — I thought it was the smartest play in the world. When I got the ball, turned around, saw a trap, I realized there were no real outlets,” Curry said of the play. “Instead of turning it over, [calling a timeout] is kind of the heady play but it turned out not to be. I looked over at the bench and everybody was shaking their head…Thankfully, we came away with the win, but good learning lesson on how important all those details are… knowing timeouts, knowing the situation. It was just an unfortunate sequence right there.”
Draymond Green Praises Jordan Poole After Warriors Beat Kings
Curry actually lineup alongside two other guards, Klay Thompson and Jordan Poole, in the starting lineup Sunday, as starting forward Draymond Green elected to come off the bench for Game 4.
Prior to tipoff, reports had surfaced of the lineup change, with indication that Green was indeed in on Golden State’s shift.
After the win, he cited Poole’s strong play as part reasoning for the adjustment.
“When I watch basketball, I’m studying,” Green explained via the NBA Interviews YouTube channel. “And I studied that game. And I saw what was working, and we won. So, I’m a firm believer in, if something isn’t broke, you don’t fix it. And our offense was rolling, and we played good defensively. Really good defensively. So, I didn’t want to come back and just shake things up because I’m back. That’s not right. Jordan went out there. He played well. We played well. He earned it. And our team earned that.”