Steph Curry steps up when the Warriors need him most. Is he ready to
carry them in Game 4?
Lakers hold 2-1 series lead over Warriors entering Game 4 in LA
>Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry (30) looks at Golden State
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr during the first quarter of Game 3 of the
NBA basketball Western Conference semifinal playoffs at Crypto.com Arena
in Los Angeles, Calif., on Saturday, May 6, 2023. (Jose Carlos
Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
By MADELINE KENNEY | mkenney@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: May 8, 2023 at 10:02 a.m. | UPDATED: May 8, 2023 at 1:31 p.m.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2023/05/08/steph-curry-steps-up-when-the-warriors-need-him-most-is-he-ready-to-carry-them-in-game-4/

LOS ANGELES — Steve Kerr won’t call Game 4 a “must-win.” He reserves
that drastic expression for when the Warriors are one loss away from
being eliminated from the playoffs.

But with the Warriors trailing the Los Angeles Lakers 2-1 after
suffering a demoralizing 30-point loss this weekend, Game 4 feels like
it could be a turning point in this so far volatile series.

“You never want to go down 3-1, so it’s gonna be a big game for us,”
Kevon Looney said Sunday after a lengthy film session. “Backs against
the wall. We didn’t play the way we wanted to in the last game, so we
need to go out there and perform at our level and play our style. We got
what it takes, we’ve been here before. We’re not scared, we know what we
need to do. We just got to go out there and do it.”

Kerr said it was disappointing to see the Warriors lose their poise the
way they did a day earlier in Game 3 when the Lakers turned an 11-point
deficit in the second quarter to an 11-point lead by halftime. The
Warriors suffered a slew of self-inflicted wounds, including rushing
offensive possessions, committing careless turnovers and fouling too much.

“You let that momentum evaporate and then just made it a little hard on
ourselves,” Stephen Curry said. “Now we gotta bounce back, but there’s a
lot of confidence we can do it.”

That confidence stems from the Warriors’ extensive body of work over the
last decade of postseason runs.

The Warriors have experienced countless playoff scenarios over the years
and have been down 2-1 in a series on the road before — most recently
during the 2022 NBA Finals. More times than not, they’ve found a way to
respond.

“This team for a decade has competed for titles. It doesn’t mean we won
every single time but we’ve been to the Finals six times, been through a
ton of difficult games, different matchups, different challenges and so
this is all part of it,” Kerr said. “And I think our guys really are
embracing the challenge, we know what we have to do.”

The Warriors also know that they have a generational talent in Curry
who’s continuously stepped up when they need him most.

That’s what he did in Game 4 of the NBA Finals against the Boston
Celtics last June when he led the Warriors to a crucial win on the
parquet floor at TD Garden with a heroic 43-point outburst.

That’s what he did even more recently last month when he poured in 50
points in Game 7 to defeat the Sacramento Kings, one day after giving an
impassioned speech to his teammates.

Will he do it again on Monday in a game the Warriors need to win?

Curry mentioned several playoff moments from over the years — including
Game 4 in Boston — that have led him to believe the Warriors always have
a fighting chance in any series.

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“There’s a lot of things you can kind of tap into in terms of
experiences that we’ve had where we’ve been on the road, kind of against
the ropes and we responded,” Curry said. “This is a very similar
situation that’s gonna require something different based on this team
and I’m excited about that opportunity.”

The Warriors are 27-9 in playoff games after suffering a loss with Kerr
at the helm. The Warriors coach said their success in being able to
regroup and adjust is the result of collaboration between the team’s
leaders and coaching staff.

“It’s never a case of us walking in there and saying, ‘Do this or else.’
It’s a film session, it’s ‘Hey, this is what happened, what can we do
about it? Here are our thoughts. Let’s hear your thoughts.’ And that’s
how we do our business,” Kerr said.

It’ll take a team effort to overcome the star-studded Lakers squad that
has already stolen two games in this series. But the Warriors will also
lean on Curry, who’s been a driving force this postseason, averaging a
playoff career-high 30.6 points on 48% shooting from the field.

There’s a lot on the line Monday for Golden State. A win in Game 4 would
not only put the two teams back on equal playing ground but it could
also tip the momentum scale in favor of the defending champions, with
the series shifting back to San Francisco for Game 5.

“I have faith that our team can win any series as long as we have more
games to play,” Kerr said. “We’re in the same situation we were in a
year ago in Boston and the Finals. Down 2-1 on the road, we know what we
have to do to get the job done and that’s the plan.”

--
Madeline Kenney | Warriors reporter
Madeline Kenney is the Bay Area News Group's Golden State Warriors beat
reporter for The Mercury News and East Bay Times. A Nebraska native, she
is graduate of Loyola University of Chicago. She holds a Bachelor in
Communication degree, with a major in broadcast journalism and minors in
sports management and marketing, and is a friend of Sister Jean, the
103-year-old nun who became famous during the Ramblers’ 2018 run to the
Final Four, Madeline previously worked for the Chicago Sun-Times
covering everything from sports to crime and politics. When she’s not
working, she enjoys trying new restaurants and exploring the great outdoors.