When the Warriors went up by 31 points, Game 2 was over. Until it wasn’t. The players and coaches involved in the incredible reversal of fortune tell the story of how it happened, in their own words.
OAKLAND, Calif. — No matter how many points the Golden State Warriors won by or lost by throughout the 2018-19 season, their emotions never varied. The experienced group never got too high or too low following any single game, remaining confident that they were still better than everyone else. After four consecutive trips to the NBA Finals and back-to-back NBA championships, the Warriors were steadfast in their notion that nothing could stop them and that they could turn on the switch when they needed it most.
That feeling of invincibility was challenged late Monday night, when the Warriors blew a 31-point second-half lead in a 135-131 loss to the LA Clippers on the same night they lost DeMarcus Cousins to a potentially season-ending quad injury.
The Clippers set an NBA postseason record Monday night by overcoming a 31-point deficit to win Game 2 of their first-round series against the Warriors.
The Warriors are worried that All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins suffered a torn left quad but won’t be certain until his MRI on Tuesday, league sources told ESPN.
The locker room was as quiet as it has been after a game all season. Stephen Curry, still in uniform, sat in front of his locker scanning through his phone. Quinn Cook walked out of the shower wrapped in towels just shaking his head as he made his way back to his stall. Warriors general manager Bob Myers walked around with his tie undone, attempting to comfort players and staff members with a warm pat on the back as other Warriors officials shuffled in and out with the same dazed look on their faces.
«The mood’s s—,» Warriors backup center Andrew Bogut said. «And that’s actually a positive sign in my opinion. It wasn’t something where we were like, ‘Oh, we’ll get them next time.’ We’re genuinely pissed off about it.»
To tell the tale of how the Warriors finally got to that state, we turn to the key figures involved in the largest single-game postseason comeback in NBA history:
When Kevin Durant sank a free throw with 7:31 in the third quarter, the Warriors had built their largest lead of the game. At that point, the Clippers had a.01 percent win probability, but they had also come back from 28 points down to beat the Celtics on the road earlier this season.
Doc Rivers, Clippers coach: «It’s who we are. We talked about that. Every timeout, it’s just who we are. Be us. We said it: ‘Let’s be us. Don’t change. Keep playing the way we play.'»
Steve Kerr, Warriors coach: «We stopped playing…. As soon as we got up 31, we shut down.»
Stephen Curry, Warriors guard: «The wheels fell off.»
Warriors coach Steve Kerr admits that halfway through the third quarter they fell apart and says that DeMarcus Cousins’ injury is «significant.
