Takeaways from Warriors' Play-In Game Win vs. Clips: Curry Is Still That Guy

Leonard's shortcomings as a playmaker also featured in Wednesday's takeaways

Darius Garland and Stephen Curry | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

The Golden State Warriors rallied from a 13-point second-half deficit to beat the LA Clippers 126-121 on Wednesday at Intuit Dome.

Stephen Curry had 35 points, including a go-ahead three with 50 seconds to go.

Al Horford hit four threes in the fourth quarter, and Draymond Green had two steals in the last minute.

With the win, the Warriors will play the Phoenix Suns on Friday with a trip to the playoffs on the line.

Here are three takeaways from Wednesday's game.

Curry Is Still That Guy

Curry played just four games after a 27-game absence with runner's knee, and he topped out at just under 29 minutes.

So there was every reason to be concerned that he would not have the conditioning to play well down the stretch after playing about 27 minutes in the first three quarters.

Instead, he came through with an 11-point, three-assist, zero-turnover fourth quarter.

The Clippers hounded Curry all night, like most teams do, but he showed once again that he has counters to every type of defense.

On the go-ahead three with 50 seconds to go, Curry got the ball off a dribble handoff going right knowing he'd get doubled immediately. So he stopped, passed it back to Draymond for a handoff going left, allowing him to attack Brook Lopez.

He still had to make a 29-foot step-back three, a shot only a handful of players can take with confidence.

The 38-year-old should be slowing down at this stage of his career, but after averaging 26.6 points in the regular season and authoring another clutch performance in the play-in, it's clear he's not slowing down.

He's still that guy.

Leonard Shows Shortcomings as a Playmaker

On the flip slide, Leonard got hounded just as much as Curry, but he didn't have counters for every situation.

Leonard had five turnovers, and it became increasingly clear that doubling him was worth the risk of leaving open another teammate, as Leonard wasn't making the right pass or the right read consistently enough.

In fairness to Leonard, he still had 21 points and finished plus-six for the game.

But the fact that he was scoreless during Golden State's big run down the stretch, including two turnovers in the last three minutes, showed he has shortcomings as a playmaker that some of the elite players he's compared to don't.

Warriors Should Prioritize Bringing Porzingis Back

Kristaps Porzingis has had a strange Warriors tenure. He missed 10 of his first 11 games, and he's been on and off the court with various injuries and illnesses. When he's played, he hasn't been great, but he's shown flashes of what he could do.

It all came together for him on Wednesday.

Porzingis had 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting, including three threes and two putback dunks. He also had five assists, two blocks and a steal.

The Warriors have other internal free agents to negotiate with, including De'Anthony Melton after he declines his player option. But they simply can't let a talent like Porzingis walk away.

There's no doubt that he'll miss some time next season, but as long as he plays about as often as he has with the Warriors this season, he's worth it.