Draymond Green spent Wednesday night shadowing Kawhi Leonard, then ended the game by taking the ball away from him. With just over 40 seconds left, Green knocked it loose, dove on the floor and pushed the possession ahead to Brandin Podziemski, a sequence that helped the Golden State Warriors hold off the LA Clippers 126-121 in a Play-In Tournament game at the Intuit Dome.
Stephen Curry carried the scoring load with 35 points, 27 of them in the second half, while Leonard finished with 21 points on 17 shots and five turnovers. Green did not respond to the stop with the guttural yell that has followed so many of his biggest defensive moments, but Gary Payton II said he “stayed solid” and added that he had been “setting it up from the beginning. Then, when the time was right — I need that.”
The win sent the 10th-seeded Warriors into a road game in Phoenix on Friday, with a playoff series against Oklahoma City on the line. It also fit the way Golden State has leaned on its old stars when the pressure rises: Curry and Green looked like the pillars of a team that spent much of the regular season fighting to prove it still belonged in the picture.
Green’s stop on Leonard was the kind of play that has filled his resume for years, and Leonard had little room to argue otherwise. “Just being physical all game. Making sure I don’t get catch-and-shoot shots. Blasting every pick and roll. … And then, you know, Draymond, Hall of Fame defender. So, yeah, it was hard to even get shots off,” Leonard said. At 126-121, the margin was small, but the moment was bigger than the score: Golden State’s defense closed the door, and the Warriors left Inglewood with one more chance to keep playing.
