The moment, a microcosm. Draymond Green, smiling incredulously, peering up at Victor Wembanyama as if he were a skyscraper.
From up there came the left hand, flushing a dunk that sent San Antonio Spurs fans into a frenzy with just shy of eight minutes remaining. From up there, a roar hurled down onto Green’s head.
So of course, Green looked up. He smiled. He stepped closer to Wembanyama, until their chests collided, craning his neck back even further to look him in the eyes. With pleasure, Green barked at the top of the mountain, his instinctual response summarizing what happened with the Golden State Warriors this week.
Above them sits a new excellence, posing a new obstacle. Skilled and athletic, hungry and haughty. Like the Warriors’ stars used to be. However, these vets still live for this. They may not be as explosive as they once were, their joints not as lubricated. But old pride burns as hot as young swag.
So, when Curry got the ball in his hands, in the final seconds, trailing by one, he wasn’t motivated by glory. He didn’t let the lure of another picturesque moment influence his decision. We know Curry. Down a point in the final seconds often means launching a 3. However, Curry wanted to win. Specifically, he wanted to beat these Spurs for the second time in three days so that the Warriors could pat them on the head on their way out of San Antonio.
How do we know this? He slowed slightly at the 3-point line, only to set up his drive. He got going downhill and, knowing De’Aaron Fox trailed him, Curry slammed on the brakes and drew the foul.
He won the game at the line.
“The back and forth with some of the young stars,” Curry said in the postgame interview with NBA on Prime Video, “it brings the best out of you.”
Victor Wembanyama is well on his way to being the face of the league. However, Draymond Green and the Warriors aren’t ready to go quietly. (Michael Gonzales / NBAE via Getty Images)
Friday was a master class. The Warriors’ experience answered everything the Spurs threw at them, emerging with an emotional 109-108 win that alters their trajectory.
The schedule that threatened to cripple the Warriors instead triggered their superstars. Golden State entered this road trip having lost five straight away from home, staring down the barrel of early-season turmoil.
The schedule delivered them the defending champions, and Oklahoma City smacked the Warriors into midseason form.
Usually, after getting obliterated like they did by the Thunder on Tuesday, the Warriors would’ve flushed that game like a DUDE Wipe. Instead, Green called out his team, pressing the urgency button well before Thanksgiving. Their distance from the best team in the league prompted some appropriate panic.
And then the schedule delivered a back-to-back against 8-2 San Antonio.
The Spurs figured to be kryptonite — a young, lengthy, bouncy and clicking squad. Daunting for the oldest team in the league. However, nothing lights a fire in the Warriors’ grizzled leaders like stakes.
In that sense, the Spurs proved an ideal foe. Wembanyama, a blossoming superstar and nightmare for the undersized Warriors, ensured Golden State would be locked in.
Old-man strength summoned. Steely resolve employed. Crafty experience activated.
The humbling from Oklahoma City, followed by the potential for embarrassment against Wembanyama, saved the Warriors from spiraling. Mostly because it unlocked Green’s defensive acumen, provoked Jimmy Butler’s aggressiveness and inspired a return to principles for a team that had been defending like an underpaid security guard.
And Curry, coming off an illness that forced him to miss three games and still hijacked his energy in Oklahoma City, found new energy in another chance to torment Wembanyama.
The list of people who are sick of facing Curry, respectfully, no doubt includes Wembanyama. “The devil named Curry” continues creating moments at the expense of Wemby’s teams.
The Warriors head to New Orleans for a game Sunday against the Pelicans, having righted their ship and reminded themselves of a quality that seemed to be slipping away a week ago.
The first 14 games might be a prophecy of how this season will go — the highs of their greatness sandwiched between inevitable lows. Dry spells generate a level of play only possible with genuine urgency. Or maybe the Warriors subconsciously reserved their premium performance for prime stages.
Either way, the answer remains the same. What becomes of Golden State is dictated by Curry, Green and Butler. Green’s plea for the young players to bring the energy and for the entire unit to play in sync may have gotten an answer. It all falls into place when they bring it. The old heads powered this riveting two-game sweep against San Antonio by basketball IQ and dignity.
It all begins with the majesty of Curry, who can still bend a defense into a pretzel. Stephon Castle, Fox and Devin Vassell — backed by Wembanyama, who might end up the greatest defender ever — is a high-quality defensive perimeter. And Curry torched them for 95 points in two games — on 56.8 percent shooting. Curry made 14 threes in the two games but was 15 of 18 inside the arc. He was 8 of 9 in the restricted area, better even than Wemby’s 7 of 11.
“You got your lead singers,” Curry said after the game, explaining head coach Steve Kerr’s analogy of a team operating like a band. “You got your bass. You got your acoustic. Your electric, whatever. Your drummers. You got your stagehands. You got the guy that’s plugging in the speakers.”
Curry was asked about his role in the band. He laughed. Everybody knows he’s Levi Stubbs of The Four Tops. Freddie Mercury from Queen. Beyoncé in Destiny’s Child. Andre 3000 of the Dungeon Family.
“I was Hayley Williams in Paramore tonight,” he said.
While Curry ran circles around the Spurs, Butler went through them. He was the force of the Warriors’ offense. He used his shoulder to gauge San Antonio’s resilience. Butler didn’t dominate, but he served as a meaningful counterpunch to keep San Antonio off balance. He knows body blows do as much damage in fewer swings.
So the same Spurs guard chasing Curry had to deal with Butler when they switched onto him. And Wemby kept part of his attention on the paint — also because of the drives of Brandin Podziemski — so the blink shooters could get their shot off before he swiped it away.
Gary Payton II knocked down his first of two monster 3-pointers with Wemby soaring at him like an airborne branch in a hurricane. GP2 had been pushed down the rotation before this San Antonio series. However, Kerr turned to him for this because it required the kind of instinct and mettle GP2 brings.
That’s what San Antonio did: force the Warriors to tap into their championship mettle. They can’t do it all the time. But the Spurs presented as dangerous, physical, energetic and, yes, flawed enough, for the Warriors’ sauce to make a difference.
And nothing symbolizes that spirit in the Warriors like Green. For two games, Green, giving up a foot to the future face of basketball, used his savvy and strength to make life difficult for the youngster. The same Wemby, who entered this series with feats warranting early MVP consideration, couldn’t quite dominate these Warriors.
Maybe eventually. But not yet. Not now. Said Green to the skyscraper.
