It’s the rarest of events when Stephen Curry and “dangerous shot” can be utilized in the identical sentence, however on Wednesday night time, within the waning seconds of the Warriors’ NBA Cup quarterfinal recreation in opposition to the Rockets, Curry certainly pulled the set off on a nasty shot on the worst time. And it in all probability price Golden State a visit to Las Vegas. 

Vital distinction: The shot itself wasn’t a nasty one. The truth is, it was a fantastic one. A large-open 3 on the prime of the important thing after Curry misplaced Dillon Brooks on a step-back. The issue was situational. The Warriors had been in command of a one-point lead and the ball with 27.2 seconds on the clock after an Alperen Sengun layup. 

Do the maths, and that is a 3.2-second differential between the sport and 24-second shot clock. Given the tight squeeze, it was unusual that the Rockets selected to not foul and as an alternative play out the ultimate defensive possession. It was a present for the Warriors, who solely needed to bleed the clock right down to the final instantaneous and launch up a shot to all however finish the sport. 

Do it proper and launch up a super-high-arcing moon-ball shot and by the point the ball comes down, caroms off the rim, and the Rockets seize the rebound and name timeout, these 3.2 seconds have in all probability ticked off and the sport is over. 

And that is if the Warriors do not make the shot within the first place. Or the rebound does not bounce even slightly crooked. Both of these issues occur, and once more, the sport is over. Greatest case state of affairs for the Rockets, or worst-case for the Warriors, is Curry shoots a normal-arc shot with 3.2 seconds left, misses, and Houston will get the rebound with possibly a second left. At finest. Calls timeout. After which has to hit a catch-and-shoot game-winner on the opposite finish off a sideline-out-of-bound play. Not going. 

All of that is to say, the suitable play on this scenario, even for a shooter as nice as Curry, was to cross up the open take a look at the 12.4-second mark and run the clock down so far as potential earlier than launching. However Curry did not try this. He took his shot the second it offered itself. And he missed. 

From there, as you possibly can see, all hell broke free. No person managed the rebound (had Curry shot with 3.2 seconds left and this occurred, once more, the clock would have run out), and Gary Payton II and Fred VanVleet wound up scrambling to the ground for the free ball. 

Payton corralled it, and he in all probability made his personal mistake by not simply protecting up and forcing VanVleet to tie him up (he seemingly wins that bounce ball). However Payton tried to do away with the ball on intuition and his cross was mainly a floor ball that become one other free ball. Jonathan Kuminga and Jalen Inexperienced wound up battling for it, and Kuminga was referred to as for a foul. The Rockets had been within the bonus. Inexperienced made each free throws. 

Now it was Golden State having to inbound from the facet with three seconds left down by one, and so they could not even get a clear shot off. Rockets win. Steve Kerr was incensed concerning the whistle on Kuminga given the scenario — 80 toes from the basket in a loose-ball scrum with the sport on the road. He is proper. Nearly by no means do you see fouls referred to as in these tie-up conditions, and positively not within the closing seconds. 

Nonetheless, Kuminga did foul Inexperienced. Maybe VanVleet fouled Payton in related vogue within the first scramble, however neither of these issues are actually the purpose. The Warriors did this to themselves. That they had a six-point lead with 1:16 to play and their last 5 possessions went like this: 

• Shot Clock Violation
• Shot Clock Violation 
• Turnover 
• Missed 3-pointer
• Blocked 3-pointer

Credit score Houston’s protection, which was excellent all night time and positively down the stretch. But additionally blame Curry, who, even with all of the methods the Warriors tried to shoot themselves within the foot, was in place to shut out the sport by mainly doing nothing. 

It has been mentioned that it is not potential for Curry to take a nasty shot, as a result of for him, even dangerous photographs are good ones. That is virtually all the time a real assertion. However not on this case. Certain, Curry may have drilled that shot and the sport would’ve seemingly been over with a four-point lead for the Warriors and 11ish seconds to play, however situationally, this was the uncommon time when Curry would’ve been sensible to maintain the gun within the holster and permit the facility of time to take over. 

Even for the best shooter to ever dwell, there are dangerous photographs right here and there. This was one in every of them. And it price the Warriors not solely a visit to Vegas for the NBA Cup semifinals, however an essential win in opposition to a top-four crew in a Western Convention the place, come April, a couple of wins are going to have vital playoff-seeding implications.