The Splash Brothers take over in crunch time against the Nets
The Warriors’ Saturday night matchup against the Nets proved to be a thrilling watch as the game came down to the wire towards the end. The Dubs narrowly won by four points thanks to the Splash Brothers aka Steph and Klay, who combined for 23 points in the fourth quarter. They also went 6/9 from the field, 3/4 from downtown, and neither of them missed a free throw out of the 8 that they attempted. The duo scored the team’s last 17 points to help seal the victory. It is also worth mentioning that Klay didn’t miss any of his shots in the fourth, including a dagger catch-and-shoot three to put the Dubs up by four points with twelve seconds remaining. As well as knocking down two clutch free throws to keep the Warriors up by two scores with under 30 seconds left.
Even though the game ended on a somewhat controversial note, with Klay getting tripped up on Kyrie’s foot, it ended up being a hard-fought win. After the game, Steve Kerr applauded the Warriors for their ability to defend and beat the Nets even without Draymond. As the Dubs were missing Iguodala, Bjelica, and of course Draymond. But even so they managed to scrape out an ugly win at home and improved their win streak to five in a row. Everyone on the team wants to win and knows how to play the game the right way. Make good passes, set good screens, and find number 11 or number 30 if they are open. But it was more than that late in the fourth on Saturday night, it was a flash of how dominant the Warriors can truly be in clutch moments.
Fans seem to have forgotten that both Klay and Steph have been in many clutch moments throughout their careers and on the biggest stage too. They know the pressure of having to make the right play at the right time, even if that includes knocking down a 28-footer. Klay commented on his shot that iced the game saying, “It felt amazing, it really did. I miss that feeling.”
And the NBA fandom as a whole has missed (or not missed) the dynamic duo of Steph and Klay lighting up their favorite team’s backcourt in the clutch. This game was just a glimpse of what we are accustomed to seeing from the two, and what we will start to see again soon as they get back into playoff form. Both will look to gain momentum from their fourth-quarter barrage as they look to break forty wins in the next few games. The Warriors' next game is on Monday night versus Houston so we will see if the duo can repeat what they did against the Nets, or if they will even have to play in the fourth quarter at all.
(Photo credit: Jeff Chiu / AP)