The Warriors, despite trailing by 14 points in the middle of the fourth quarter, nearly pulled off an outrageous comeback on Tuesday night. They came up just short — literally.
Stephen Curry hit an enormous 3-pointer to the game at 112 apiece with 1:12 remaining.
On his next opportunity, he got absolutely swatted by Anthony Davis on a floater. After a lead-taking bucket from D’Angelo Russell and a 1-of-2 free throw trip for LeBron James, the Warriors had a chance to tie it.
They botched their first chance, with Jordan Poole throwing up a desperation floater. But after James missed a deep dagger attempt, Curry secured the rebound with 17.9 seconds remaining.
He got double-teamed when he crossed half court and, well, you saw what happened. Poole launched a deep, wide-open 3-point attempt. Clank.
A lot of people had a lot to say about the attempt. Among many examples:
And another:
Should Steve Kerr have called a timeout and drawn up a play? Was Jordan Poole wrong to take the shot?
Whatever your opinions are, Steve Kerr expressed full support of the possession, defending Poole’s attempt.
“I had the timeouts left, but I saw them double-teaming Steph at half court, so I knew somebody was gonna be wide open if we could just get the ball out,” Kerr said. “Steph did a great job. He got the ball out of the trap and Jordan was wide open and [it was] a pretty good luck and that’s a shot he can hit. So really happy with that possession. Again, Jordan had hit six 3s already so it’s a great shot for us.”
The miss cemented a 117-112 loss that has the Warriors down 1-0 to the Lakers. They’ll host them again on Thursday night for a chance to tie the series at one game apiece before it shifts back to Los Angeles.