<\/p>\n
Warriors guard Stephen Curry couldn\u2019t recapture the magic he showed two nights earlier as Golden State fell to the\u00a0Phoenix Suns on Friday in an NBA play-in game.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Stephen Lam\/S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n
Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry rives toward the basket as Phoenix Suns players converge during the second half of Friday’s NBA play-in tournament game in Phoenix. The Suns defeated the Warriors 111-96.<\/p>\n
Stephen Lam\/S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n
Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry looks for room to maneuver during the first half of an NBA play-in tournament game against the Phoenix Suns\u00a0in Phoenix on\u00a0Friday.<\/p>\n
Stephen Lam\/S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n
Warriors guard Stephen Curry leaves the court after an\u00a0NBA play-in tournament game against the Suns in Phoenix on\u00a0Friday. The Suns defeated the Warriors 111-96.<\/p>\n
Stephen Lam\/S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n
Something ended on Friday night for the Golden State Warriors<\/a>. Was it just a season, one that Steve Kerr<\/a> called \u201cas tough a season as you could have\u201d?<\/p>\n Or was it the end of a championship era?<\/p>\n The Warriors\u2019 84th game on Friday looked an awful lot like the majority of Games 1 through 82.\u00a0 They were sloppy and overmatched and unable to overcome mistakes. The Warriors fell to Phoenix<\/a>, 111-96, in a do\u2013or-die play-in game. They will miss the playoffs for the second time in three years.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Yet despite that fizzle and all the questions about the future, something significant happened this week.<\/p>\n The Warriors answered the big question. They explained their why. Why is Draymond Green<\/a> still on this team? Why continue to make Stephen Curry<\/a> the center of everything? Why is Kerr still coaching? Why did Jonathan Kuminga<\/a> have to go? Why isn\u2019t there a tear-down to start over?<\/p>\n San Francisco Chronicle Logo<\/p>\n Make us a Preferred Source to get more of our news when you search.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n They answered all of it in the fourth quarter on Wednesday night. And it almost doesn\u2019t matter that they couldn\u2019t summon that magic again on Friday in a quick turnaround against the Suns, that their season clanked to an end and they now find themselves in the lottery.<\/p>\n Because what they did against the Clippers<\/a>, the way they did it<\/a>, was tangible proof that their special magic still exists. It isn\u2019t just a faint memory or a theoretical idea. It was real. It was electric.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Curry taking over the game. Green suffocating the other team\u2019s offense. Curry and Green performing a ballet honed through thousands of hours together. Kerr pushing all the right buttons. Championship DNA taking over, another team stunned, an opposing arena supercharged.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a dream. It\u2019s a drug. It\u2019s an addiction.<\/p>\n The Warriors can\u2019t quit it. Their fans can\u2019t quit it. They don\u2019t want to quit it. Because there\u2019s no high like it.<\/p>\n \u201cSteph\u2019s still got it,\u201d Kerr said. \u201cHe can still do it. It just gets more difficult as you get older. But that game the other night will go down as one of my favorite games we\u2019ve ever played, (Steph) showing what he\u2019s made of, Draymond showing what he has.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Curry is still the best show in the NBA. So it seems probable that the Warriors will take the spark ignited in that first play-in game and fan it into a fire that will fuel their decisions through the offseason. To keep it going for one more year, through when Jimmy Butler comes back from injury, and hope to recreate the magic.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n But will Kerr be leading the show? As the seconds ticked toward the final outcome on Friday, Kerr gathered Curry and Green on the sideline, and the three leaders of the Warriors dynasty wrapped their arms around each other in a group hug, their heads bent together. Was it a goodbye? An acknowledgement of one last time on the court together?<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019d be crazy not to think that\u2019s a possibility,\u201d Green said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n