West Notes: Warriors, Steph Curry, Kings, De’Aaron Fox, Timberwolves

Warriors

The Warriors managed to survive guard Steph Curry‘s blunder to hang on and knot their series vs. the Kings at 2-all.

Curry called a timeout late … but the Warriors didn’t have any. It resulted in a technical, as the rule states.

“I didn’t realize when we lost the challenge that we didn’t have any timeouts left,” Curry said, via Kendra Andrews of ESPN, who added coach Steve Kerr admitted he failed to inform the players they had no more timeouts.

“[Coach] took the blame for it, but I ain’t going to lie: I thought it was the smartest play in the world. I looked at the bench, and everybody was shaking their head. It was an unfortunate situation.”

Kerr suggested that the Warriors deserved credit for playing through the mistake and walking away with the win.

“There’s no time to be angry or frustrated,” Kerr said, via Andrews. “You just have to keep going, and our guys did that. We made some incredible stops down the stretch.”

• Forward Draymond Green said he’s happy the coaching staff decided to give him a shot at defending Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox. “He’s incredible,” Green said, via Andrews. “He continues to get better, and any time you draw the assignment to go guard the other team’s best player, you appreciate the opportunity. I always knew, as this series has gone, that’s something that we had in our back pocket. If I’m being honest, I was very happy that we pulled out that card.”

Kings

• De’Aaron Fox erupted for 38 points on 14-of-31 shooting in the 126-125 loss to the Warriors on Sunday, including 21 in the first half. That makes him the first member of the Kings to have multiple 35-point games in the same playoff series since Oscar Robertson in 1966 (Andrews).
• Forward Harrison Barnes missed a shot at the buzzer that would have won it, but told reporters the Kings remain confident. “Wide open,” Barnes said. “Fox trusted me to take that shot. Back rim. On to the next but I feel confident in where we are.”
• Coach Mike Brown added that the Kings made some costly mistakes in the fourth quarter. “This is where our playoff inexperience comes into play because you can’t rest out there, or you can’t think that you can play something a certain way and the champions are not going to make you pay the price,” he said.

Timberwolves

• Forward Kyle Anderson went to see an eye specialist following the Timberwolves’ Game 4 win over the Nuggets, coach Chris Finch said, via Chris Hine of the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
• Anderson was forced to exit the game with a left eye/facial contusion in the third quarter after being accidentally hit in the face by shooting guard Anthony Edwards.
• Edwards, of course, finished with 34 points on 12-of-27 shooting to keep the Wolves’ season alive. He scored 16 of those in the third quarter.