Golden State Warriors endured a narrow 103-100 loss to defending champions Los Angeles Lakers in the play-in tournament. Despite the loss, ace player Steph Curry assures that there were plenty of positives to take from the loss and admitted missing playing crunch fixtures in such an atmosphere.
Steph Curry led the scoring for the evening with 37 points to his name, but LeBron James’s massive three in the final minute ensured those points were in a losing cause.
As a result of this loss, the Warriors will have to play against Memphis Grizzlies for a spot in the playoffs as the eighth seed.
Warriors blew away a 13-point halftime lead following a poor third quarter that saw the defending champions rack up 35 points.
Curry displayed a positive attitude after the loss and added the thrill of playing in high intensity games in front of a crowd.
Right now it sucks. We played pretty well tonight. Missed this type of environment. It was a lot of fun — high intensity, high competitive level.
“I was even telling Jordan Bell on the bench in the third quarter — I missed this,” Curry said. “It had been almost two years since the finals that we were here in a game that had those type of consequences.
It’s what you live for. It’s what you work so hard for. It brings out the best in you in terms of your competitiveness and all that. I love it. So we can run it back Friday and hopefully all next week.”
Discussing their upcoming do-or-die fixture against the Grizzlies. Curry fancied the Warriors’ chances and brought up their sparkling run towards the end of the regular season.
The Warriors won 15 out of their last 20 matches which included the final game of the regular season against the Grizzlies to seal the eighth spot for an extra shot at the playoffs.
Curry and Kerr both reflect back on the lacklustre third quarter
After the scoring title winner’s buzzer-beater three to end the first half, Warriors were on cruise mode with a 13-point lead. However, the lead was brought down to just two points in a short space of time.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr revealed that he warned the players at the half-time break and rued the careless decisions with the ball/
“We knew they were going to come out,” Kerr said of the Lakers. “We talked about it at halftime. They’re a great team, they’re going to make a run.
The winners of the Warriors vs Pelicans game will take on Western Conference number one seed Utah Jazz in the first round of playoffs.
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