SAN FRANCISCO — Every ounce of energy Steph Curry had left he took out on his jersey. With a two-handed rip through the letters on his chest, Curry screamed. This was adrenaline borne of yet another heartbreak — perhaps the Warriors’ worst yet with plenty of runners-up.
To the national audience watching, the Warriors’ double-overtime loss to the Los Angeles Lakers served as a reminder of why the aging superstars are still king. The game began as another chapter to the decade-long rivalry between LeBron James and Curry’s Warriors and refused to end without a bang.
Curry sent it to overtime, dribbling Lakers center Anthony Davis around the court for half of the remaining 11 seconds in regulation and juking him with a dribble fake and easy layup. Klay Thompson sent it to double overtime, burying his ice-cold start to the game with a cold-blooded 3 with six seconds remaining.
In the second OT, it was a fatigued Curry who hit the go-ahead 3 with space created by a leveling screen set by Draymond Green. Thompson fouled out in double OT, and Andrew Wiggins fouled out, too. Then it was James who called game, taking the very last five seconds to drive, draw a foul, and sink both free throws for the lead. He finished with 36 points, a career-high 20 rebounds and 12 assists in 48 minutes.
A few of the game’s very best in the second and third decades of their careers — matching each other clutch shot for big play until there was no time left to counter.
An hour after the buzzer, Curry walked up the locker room stairs. He’d played 43 minutes, scored 46 points, and opted for a pair of thick rubber-soled black boots for his game-day outfit, so it was more of a trudge than a walk.
“Every year we get to do this, the back-and-forth battles, all the Finals runs, to the playoffs last year,” Curry said. “After the horn sounded tonight there was a little laugh of we can’t imagine a scenario where a game like tonight happens, his year, what, 21, and my year…
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