OAKLAND — Kevin Durant and Steph Curry strolled into their postgame press conference an hour after a 113-111 win over the San Antonio Spurs. Both in black hats, Durant sat down in the seat on the far right. Curry tapped him on the shoulder and asked him if they could switch to their customary spots behind the microphones.
“I’m superstitious,” Curry smiled.
Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals will be remembered for a roaring 25-point comeback, Kawhi Leonard’s ankle injury and Steve Kerr’s return to Oracle Arena.
Game 1 will also be remembered for the number 74. It was the most points Curry and Durant have ever combined for in a game.
The Warriors discovered something about themselves on Sunday. When their style of basketball is completely failing on the court — ball movement, defense, energy — just put the basketball in Curry or Durant’s hands and rely on the pair to create their own unique forms of magic.
Curry and Durant both acknowledged this afterwards with the media. Basic isolation plays became the emphasis instead of ravenous ball movement. The Spurs were disrupting passing lanes and Golden State had lost some confidence in themselves with their usual Showtime Lakers-like passing. Committing 8 turnovers in the first quarter will do that to you.
It was one of the first occasions the Warriors basically cleared everyone out of the way and let their two top dogs go to work. It’s kind of how Oklahoma City used to play with Durant and Russell Westbrook. The mindset was go get buckets. Now. The rest of the Warriors took 34 shots — Durant and Curry combined for 47.
“When you can kind of isolate certain situations that should work to our favor, certain matchups, certain screen and rolls at the top of they key, kind of your basic basketball play, then you’ll be able to make and create out of those situations,” Curry explained.
“When things stall out a bit, we usually try to find a mismatch and go to work,” Durant said. “That’s what I was doing, trying to find the best shot for me, get to my spot.”
The world saw the adjustment play out in real time on Mother’s Day. Curry scored 40 points, Durant 34. Golden State needed an MVP type of effort to overcome a dreadful start. They got two doses of elite basketball. Sensing it was his time to take over, Durant scored 10 in a row in the fourth quarter. Curry took a blowtorch to the Spurs for 19 points in the third quarter and he also slammed the door shut, scoring the team’s final 7 points in regulation.
It’s specifically Durant who gives the Warriors the element they’ve never had before. It’s why Bob Myers moved the ground and earth to acquire him in free agency. Curry can finish around the bucket on offense, but he doesn’t attack the rim. That was KD’s main role on Sunday, where he notched a 10-for-12 mark from the free throw line. Harrison Barnes was a Toyota Prius on the court a year ago. Durant is essentially a Ferrari. And he was relentless with his horsepower in Game 1.
“He didn’t settle for a jump shot,” Mike Brown said describing one of Durant’s baskets. “He saw who he had in front of him, who was at the rim. He looked to attack. We need that from him. He’s the one guy that really feel helps us get to the bonus early. It was evident with him having 12 free throw attempts. So the more aggressive he is, the better we are.”
Let’s not pretend this is the first time Curry and Durant have both played outstanding in the same game. It happens frequently. The thing is, the Warriors don’t prefer to play this style of basketball. They can build big leads by sharing the basketball and barreling down defensively. They have a normal strategy that will work most of the time.
But in playoff basketball, rotations shorten and game plans can be scrapped relatively quickly. Left knee soreness held Andre Iguodala out of the entire second half. Acting head coach Mike Brown played Zaza Pachulia the entire third quarter — something he hadn’t done all season. Early on, Golden State was getting manhandled in the post. They adjusted.
Don’t downplay the nature of this comeback win, either. Regardless of Leonard’s injury, the Spurs were up by 25. During the Gregg Popovich era, San Antonio had posted a 316-0 record when leading by 25 points at any point in a game. They’re now 316-1. It’s a devastating blow.
“It’s the toughest part,” Manu Ginobili said. “It’s very hard to react from a game like this. I was just saying that I always prefer to lose by 20 than like this. In which case, the home team relaxes a little bit, feels good about themselves and we’re hurt. We are angry and the opposite happened.
“We played an outstanding game for half and a little bit. Then they came back. They overplayed us, they were more aggressive. They made more shots. So if it wasn’t bad enough, we lost our best player that was struggling already with a bad ankle. So it’s hard to see the positives, even though we were 20-something up. A very bad outcome of the game.”
Obviously, this win wasn’t just Durant and Curry. Klay Thompson had a dreadful shooting night (), but he also had a key pass with 39 seconds left that led to a Draymond Green And-1. Playing over Andre Iguodala, Shaun Livingston was fantastic down the stretch, scoring two key buckets that led to the comeback.
But in Game 1, the Warriors learned that giving the car keys to Curry and Durant can lead to delightful results. Remember this strategy for next round against Cleveland. Using it could help the Warriors earn some new jewelry and fans in the Bay Area another June parade.