Stephen A. goes crazy Warriors waste Steph Curry's 50 point-night in loss to Clippers

Splits are drastic, real good at home, lousy on the road, fourth worst in the league on the road. They've lost eight straight. They're losing, but trying to fight back in it. Off the turnover, Paul George, Kawhi, Leonard. Leonard had 30, clips up eight. Under a minute left in the second, it beats the Zubats with the lay-in. Afterwards, Draymond, here's the, what happens here? Draymond, did he lose the ball? What happened? Green call for a tech. That's his 16th of the season. He'll have to serve a suspension unless it's rescinded. Then on the other end, Marcus Morris Sr. throws down green. Green, Morris get into it, you saw what was going on, a little chippy, flagrant two, Morris was ejected. All right, now we move to the third, and this is the Steph Curry portion of the highlight. Just the full version of what this man has in the arsenal. As good a shooter as we've ever seen, and then the ability to get through traffic and hit all manner of layups like that, and like this little scoop to beat the buzzer, 21 in the third, 41 through three, Warriors hanging around. Early fourth, clips up eight. George misses the three, Westbrook with the layup and the putback. Clips up 10, halfway through the fourth. Curry puts on the break, step back, that's bottoms. Then Curry, it's actually a two, but it's good, counts, and the lead is down to seven. Then Curry, Steve's not here, but I'll say it, float game on point. He's got half a hundred. The problem is it's now a 10 point game, and this is the dagger, Paul George, 24 for him, Curry for 50, but it comes in a loss, and strange year continues for the Warriors. Again, it's like polar opposites, photo negatives, however you want to put it. 29 and seven at home, seven and 27 on the road, eight straight home wins, nine straight road losses. Key culprit, the defense. They allow a dozen more on the road than they do at home. The large, the Jazz and Pelicans idol, the Lakers cling to that final playing spot despite the loss on Wednesday. Mavericks get back to 500, currently slotted into the eight seed. Teams four through 12 have just four games separated them. Each of those teams have either 12 or 13 games remaining on the schedule. You got the Warriors there at six, another loss on the road. Here's Steve Kerr. I'm actually not frustrated. I mean, I loved our effort. Our guys were connected. Came out and battled. I thought the Clippers played a great game. You know, they had 30 assists and seven turnovers. They shot the lights out from three, you know, made 16 threes. Their offensive rebounding was a huge factor in the game, but, you know, that's especially with, you know, our roster the way it is right now with missing a lot of key guys, we're vulnerable on the glass. I just thought the Clippers played a great game. I love the way our guys played. They hung in there. Steph was just sublime. That was incredible to watch him play tonight. It was a great, great game. We just came up short. Tim Legler joins us in studio, and part of the championship DNA Golden State has referenced through the years is how good they've been on the road in the playoffs under Kerr, 37 and 22. This year, they're just, we've covered it. They're not a good road team. There's the Andrew Wiggins piece, which is the mystery, frankly, and we don't know what will happen with that. But as they are constructed and who they are at the moment, what concerns you most about what's happening when they leave San Francisco? Few reasons, and one of which Dave alluded to in the past, which I think there is a little bit of complacency for a team that's made eight, you know, all these finals, six finals runs. Human nature. You just absolutely don't put as much relevance in the regular season, and I think that is part of it, but I think there are also physical reasons, and one of the big ones for me is just offensive rebounds. Steve Kerr alluded to it. There are so many nights now I watch the Warriors, and I just watch them get manhandled. They're putting very small lineups out there, and you say, wait, the Warriors have always played small. Yeah, but they have. But think about some of the guys that have filled some of these wing spots on these teams over the years. A 6'8 Shawn Livingston, a much more athletic Andre Iguodala, a Kevin Durant. These are Wiggins who you mentioned, big, big problem. They got manhandled again on the glass tonight, and then giving up open shots. I mean, Steve Kerr said they battled and fought hard. They did, but look at the number the Clippers are putting up, and they shot great from the three-point line, but look how open the shots are. They have so many miscommunication mistakes throughout the course of the game that just don't provide enough resistance. You know, defensively, Scott, you've got to dictate to teams how you're going to let them play offensively. That's the way Golden State used to be at their peak. Now, everything is reactionary, and when you're always reacting, you're going to make mistakes communication-wise. You're going to give up open shots. So that's what really happened in this one, and far too often on the road for this team. And we've joked to a degree about how hard it is to mentally quit this Golden State team because of who they've been. However, at some point, we're 70 games into a year. This is who they are, aren't they? Yeah, there's a reason that Washington Bullets, I think in 1978, had the worst record overall to win a championship, 44-38. Golden State's not getting the 44 wins. There's a reason for that. It's very difficult to then just go make the run, but then you watch Steph Curry drop 50 the way Klay has played for the last two months, and you go, okay, on any night, you want to see that team and with all that playoff experience? So maybe they should steal a road game in these series once they start playing in the postseason because that's all it's going to take is one road win. Right, but they're going to have to hold serve every single night at home if you have zero margin for error on the road. All right, the MVP conversation, frankly, people just yell about the guy they like, and they will not listen about the other guy. I'm done with all of them. Clash of superstars in our late game tonight here on ESPN, and it is critical. Every game is. With less than a month left in the season, the West couldn't be more jammed up. Look at that. The difference from four to 10 in the Western Conference standings is three games. At this moment, the Suns, the Warriors, and the Clippers, in that order, have spots four through six, which would keep them out of the play in tournament. So, Stephen, a seven teams for three spots. Which three are going to make it? I'm going to tell you we're talking about the top six. All right. I'm going to tell you Phoenix is going to stay in there. I'm going to tell you the Clippers are going to stay in there, and I'm going to tell you that the Golden State Warriors, with eight road games remaining on their schedule, somehow inexplicably suffering seven and 26 on the road or whatever their record is. I think they're going to fall out of the top six, Jalen and Will Bond, and the Los Angeles Lakers are going to leapfrog over the Dallas Mavericks, over the Oklahoma City Thunder, and over the Minnesota Timberwolves. And the Los Angeles Lakers are going to capture the sixth seed. Golden State will fall into the play in probably as a seventh seed. Warriors are seven and 26 on the road to be exact. All right. Stephen A's dream of LA in the conference final remains very much alive. Michael, Will Bond, give me three teams for those three spots. All right. I got the Suns staying in, even if they don't get Kevin Durant back for the last few of those, but I think they will. And I think they'll go from there. We've seen them play some really tough teams close, like Milwaukee. I think they'll be okay. I think Golden State, Stephen A, is going to win three of its next five road games. They got stuff like at Houston, at Atlanta, and there's another one in there. I think they're going to win. I think they're going to pull themselves together. I'm not going to Vegas with Jalen for Draft Kings on that, but I'm going to take them for right now. And I'm going to go. Stephen A, I was having a hard time between the Clippers and the Lakers. I just think the Clippers are pulling themselves together. And once they got through that five-game losing streak, I think they're going to be the team that's okay. Look, the Lakers are going to be potent and dangerous, and I get all of that. I'm just taking the Clippers to just beat them out by a hair. And those are my three teams. Phoenix, Clippers, and the Champs, the Dubs, get those automatic bids. Well, I have to agree with my esteemed colleagues to disagree with them. And here's what I mean. We're like-minded on the Suns. I agree that they're going to be in. We're like-minded on the Clippers. I believe that they're going to be in. But Stephen A, the Lakers ain't going to get in over the Golden State Warriors. Did you see Klay the other night? I know you saw Klay the other night. I saw him. It's special. Okay. And you saw Steph recently playing as dominant as can be. So I think the Golden State Warriors are going to show a sense of urgency. They understand they need to play a lot better on the road. I anticipate, like Will Bond said, that they will. And also, for your Lakers pick, I got to remind you, even tonight, Anthony Davis not in the lineup. Not in the lineup. So there will be times where he's not in the lineup, and we don't know when LeBron's coming back. I'm appalled that he's not playing tonight. I don't care that he played last night. Damn it. I mean, come on, man. Come on. All right. Jalen called us. Jalen called us weeks ago. He said they're not going to be out there every night. You're right there, and I got all of that. And listen, nobody's trying to jump off the Golden State Warriors ship. I'm just saying, I don't even recognize who they are on the road. I've spoken to doctors.