Lowell Cohn: Warriors step up big with season on the line

OAKLAND

The Golden State Warriors redeemed themselves Wednesday night.

It wasn’t just a matter of winning - they beat the Thunder 118-91. It was a matter of hauling themselves back into this conference finals, of lugging themselves up a hill and over a steep wall and, all sweaty from the effort, finally seeing the green meadow below them, the meadow bathed in gold light.

Because, no matter what anyone said, Game 2 was the series for the Warriors. The season, if you want to be frank. They had lost to Oklahoma City on Monday, OKC a real threat as opposed to faux threats like the Rockets and Trail Blazers. And the Warriors could not play Game 3 in OKC down two games to none. It would be a heart breaker and almost surely a season breaker.

And the Warriors showed their quality. Not to mention their character which runs deep, this team that stood the league on its head in the regular season and refuses to roll over, to exit quietly. Not to the Thunder even though Kevin Durant scored 29 points and Russell Westbrook battled Stephen Curry like their lives depended on it. In a way, they did.

The Thunder had been tougher than the Warriors in Game 1, but in this game, the Warriors fought hard, Draymond Green kneeing Steven Adams you know where, then running down the court woofing while Adams sagged to his knees wondering how his blissful existence reduced itself to this nauseating pain. That play was a metaphor for the game, and if it wasn’t, it sure hurt Adams and showed the Warriors would do just about anything to win - within the law, of course.

The Warriors murdered the Thunder, embarrassed them. Got even with the Thunder for past grievances and got even in the series. Got even every way you can imagine. Reminded the bewildered Thunder of the pecking order in the league. Of the way things are. And probably will be. Late in the fourth quarter, assistant coach Luke Walton was yawning on the bench. By then, the game was boring and redundant and he probably needed a snooze.

And this game was the return of Curry. Big theme right here. When it still was a game in the third quarter, Curry took over. Just took over. Re-established his street cred and his league cred. And he did it against Westbrook who had outplayed him in the first game. Well, forget that.

With about six minutes left in the quarter, the Warriors stole the ball. Andre Iguodala passed back to Curry for a long 2. Beautiful high arc. The arena hushed. Swish. Later in the quarter, Curry threw one of his lightning passes under the hoop to Festus Ezeli, who dished to Shaun Livingston for the easy lay-in. Lyric poetry.

Curry scored 17 in the third quarter, poured it on. Made a close game not a game. Reminded everyone who is the MVP and why. That he’s better than Westbrook and more dangerous, that he gets hot and the game turns in an instant. That he always is the most special player on the court. That after the bad foot and the bad knee and the rust of not playing, he is back.

That Curry always is a Curry waiting to happen.

Ask the Thunder. Well, ask their coach, Billy Donovan. He came to the postgame interview room, said, “We let Curry get loose a few times.” Making him a master of the understatement.

When asked about Curry’s third-quarter flurry, the kind of flurry we’ve seen a million times, Donovan said, his voice resigned, “Listen, Curry’s faced every kind of defense there is. He’s faced trapping. He’s faced switching. He’s faced denials. He’s faced it all.”

What Donovan didn’t say but meant was Curry has faced and defeated every defense. In this series, it was only a matter of time.

After Donovan, the Thunder’s two stars came to the room, Durant and Westbrook. I am not a fashion writer, but find it imperative to comment on Westbrook’s attire, me being innocent of cool garb.

He wore a white T-shirt containing several rips. Holes is more like it, one over his navel. I’m asking you, does he pay for the ripped shirt or does he self-rip? Please advise. The ripped shirt was a symbol for his game - I was an English major - in that Curry sure ripped him.

One other Westbrook note. He went to UCLA and took a course called Dinosaurs with my son. I wanted to ask him about Tyrannosaurus Rex as an ice breaker, but thought better of it considering T Rex is extinct and Westbrook might have taken that the wrong way.

Durant was more talkative than Westbrook. Asked about Curry’s third quarter, he said, “He makes bad shots.” In the Durant lexicon, does bad mean good?

Then Curry and Ezeli entered, Curry with a no-hole shirt. I asked what he felt when he got going in the third. Ezeli interrupted. “Steph is going to Steph.” Making Ezeli the first person to use Steph as both a noun and a verb in the same sentence.

“It’s all about our ball movement,” Curry said, being modest. “The way they’ve been defending, it’s hard to get a rhythm. We were able to do that. We set great screens and moved the ball side to side. I got open shots. That’s the game plan. I’m going to have to make them, but we didn’t have to force anything. That was our brand of basketball.”

Now I want you to hear from Kerr. Someone asked what stood out for him about Curry’s third quarter flurry.

“Nothing,” Kerr decreed, “because this is his usual. This is what he does.”

I asked when a Curry flurry happens, what does Kerr experience, see, think?

His face went red. He laughed his delighted laugh.

“I feel great joy,” he said. And that said it all.

For more on the world of sports in general and the Bay Area in particular, go to the Cohn Zohn at cohn.blogs.pressdemocrat.com. You can reach Staff Columnist Lowell Cohn at lowell.cohn@pressdemocrat.com.