LOS ANGELES — Steve Kerr gained’t name Recreation 4 a “must-win.” He reserves that drastic expression for when the Warriors are one loss away from being eradicated from the playoffs.
However with the Warriors trailing the Los Angeles Lakers 2-1 after struggling a demoralizing 30-point loss this weekend, Recreation 4 feels prefer it might be a turning level on this to date risky sequence.
“You by no means wish to go down 3-1, so it’s gonna be an enormous recreation for us,” Kevon Looney mentioned Sunday after a prolonged movie session. “Backs towards the wall. We didn’t play the best way we wished to within the final recreation, so we have to go on the market and carry out at our stage and play our model. We received what it takes, we’ve been right here earlier than. We’re not scared, we all know what we have to do. We simply received to go on the market and do it.”
Kerr mentioned it was disappointing to see the Warriors lose their poise the best way they did a day earlier in Recreation 3 when the Lakers turned an 11-point deficit within the second quarter to an 11-point lead by halftime. The Warriors suffered a slew of self-inflicted wounds, together with dashing offensive possessions, committing careless turnovers and fouling an excessive amount of.
“You let that momentum evaporate after which simply made it a little bit onerous on ourselves,” Stephen Curry mentioned. “Now we gotta bounce again, however there’s lots of confidence we are able to do it.”
That confidence stems from the Warriors’ intensive physique of labor during the last decade of postseason runs.
The Warriors have skilled numerous playoff eventualities through the years and have been down 2-1 in a sequence on the street earlier than — most just lately through the 2022 NBA Finals. Extra instances than not, they’ve discovered a technique to reply.
“This staff for a decade has competed for titles. It doesn’t imply we gained each single time however we’ve been to the Finals six instances, been by means of a ton of inauspicious video games, totally different matchups, totally different challenges and so that is all a part of it,” Kerr mentioned. “And I feel our guys actually are embracing the problem, we all know what we now have to do.”
The Warriors additionally know that they've a generational expertise in Curry who’s repeatedly stepped up once they want him most.
That’s what he did in Recreation 4 of the NBA Finals towards the Boston Celtics final June when he led the Warriors to an important win on the parquet ground at TD Backyard with a heroic 43-point outburst.
That’s what he did much more just lately final month when he poured in 50 factors in Recreation 7 to defeat the Sacramento Kings, sooner or later after giving an impassioned speech to his teammates.
Will he do it once more on Monday in a recreation the Warriors have to win?
Curry talked about a number of playoff moments from through the years — together with Recreation 4 in Boston — which have led him to consider the Warriors at all times have a combating likelihood in any sequence.
“There’s lots of issues you'll be able to form of faucet into when it comes to experiences that we’ve had the place we’ve been on the street, form of towards the ropes and we responded,” Curry mentioned. “It is a very related scenario that’s gonna require one thing totally different based mostly on this staff and I’m enthusiastic about that chance.”
The Warriors are 27-9 in playoff video games after struggling a loss with Kerr on the helm. The Warriors coach mentioned their success in with the ability to regroup and modify is the results of collaboration between the staff’s leaders and training workers.
“It’s by no means a case of us strolling in there and saying, ‘Do that or else.’ It’s a movie session, it’s ‘Hey, that is what occurred, what can we do about it? Listed below are our ideas. Let’s hear your ideas.’ And that’s how we do our enterprise,” Kerr mentioned.
It’ll take a staff effort to beat the star-studded Lakers squad that has already stolen two video games on this sequence. However the Warriors may also lean on Curry, who’s been a driving power this postseason, averaging a playoff career-high 30.6 factors on 48% capturing from the sphere.
There’s loads on the road Monday for Golden State. A win in Recreation 4 wouldn't solely put the 2 groups again on equal enjoying floor but it surely might additionally tip the momentum scale in favor of the defending champions, with the sequence shifting again to San Francisco for Recreation 5.
“I've religion that our staff can win any sequence so long as we now have extra video games to play,” Kerr mentioned. “We’re in the identical scenario we have been in a 12 months in the past in Boston and the Finals. Down 2-1 on the street, we all know what we now have to do to get the job completed and that’s the plan.”