Harrison Barnes' miss had everyone remembering Warriors' worst moment
Harrison Barnes’ missed game-winner against the Golden State Warriors on Sunday brought back memories for not only the Kings forward (and former Dub) but also his old teammates.
Sacramento had the final possession in Game 4. With De’Aaron Fox double-teamed, and time winding down, the point guard passed the ball to an open Barnes in the corner, but his shot clanked off the back of the rim just as time expired. The Warriors escaped with a 126-125 victory and the series tied at 2-2.
Speaking with reporters after the game, Barnes put his missed shot in perspective of the 2016 NBA Finals, where he, quite frankly, stunk. The Warriors, somewhat famously, blew a 3-1 lead that June and then replaced Barnes with Kevin Durant later that summer.
“After you learn to put yourself together after 2016, I think one shot is not going to necessarily faze you,” Barnes said Sunday. “You know for me it’s all about trusting the process. I mean, like you said, I got a good look, missed it.”
One miss is nothing compared with 2016. In that seven-game Finals, he shot a paltry 35.2% from the field and 31% from three. In the three-game stretch that secured the blown 3-1 series lead for the Dubs, he was 5-of-32, including 0-for-8 (0-5 from three) in Game 6.
Of course, Barnes wasn’t the only one who seemed to be thinking of 2016 after the final buzzer sounded in Game 4. In the postgame celebrations, Draymond Green shouted, “We’ve seen that movie before!” at Steph Curry in jubilation.
While Green didn’t rehash that comment to reporters after the win, he did agree with Barnes on another front: That was the look he was hoping for.
“We know Fox can make a shot,” Green said. “He won Clutch Player of the Year. What I’m not doing is giving him an iso with anyone and just watching him work and living with that. We are not going to live with that. We know that. Got to make somebody else beat you. If he hit it, great shot. He didn’t. You know, whether he hit it or not, it’s the right thing to make someone else beat you. He didn’t. It worked.”
Source: SFGATE
