"It would haunt him": Kerry almost became a tragic hero, then Draymond Green arrived - voila! sport

Steph Curry and Draymond Green celebrate Golden State's Game 4 win against Sacramento (from Twitter)

On April 5, 1993, one of the most terrible and memorable mistakes in the history of American basketball took place.

With 19 seconds left in the NCAA Tournament final, Chris Webber called a timeout he didn't have to take and was hit with a technical foul that cost Michigan the championship and haunted him throughout his career, even as he became an NBA star.

30 years have passed, and last night (Sunday) we almost got a similar tragic mistake.

One can only imagine the crossfire that Steph Curry would have suffered if the timeout he took and the Warriors didn't have to take in the final seconds against Sacramento, would have cost Golden State a loss.

It happened 40 seconds to the end, with a 5 lead for the Warriors, with the ball in hand, when everything seemed over.

Curry dribbled in Golden State's half court, and when two Kings players attacked him, he called a timeout.

Looking towards the bench, Kerry realized the mistake.

He Manem had scored 32 points to that point and had a fantastic game, but the blunder could have been all he would be remembered for from the game.

"When I received the ball, I turned around, saw that they were sending in the direction of a double guard and I realized that I didn't have any safe passing option. I felt that the ball was going to be lost, I asked for a timeout, and to be honest, at the first moment I was convinced that I had made the smartest move in the world," Kerry repeated.

"After I saw how everyone grabbed their heads on the bench, I realized how wrong I was."

One moment of confusion almost ruined an impressive show.

Ker comforts Kerry (Photo: Reuters)

The rare and uncharacteristic mistake, certainly not for an experienced team like Golden State and a battle mode star like Curry, almost cost the Warriors the game, maybe the entire season.

Malik Monk dunked from the free-throw line, and Sacramento received another ball from the sideline that quickly turned into a 3-pointer by Dearon Fox that narrowed the champion's lead to just one point.

Curry added insult to injury when, on the Warriors' next drive, he rushed to throw even though he could have run out the clock, and ended up missing.

Luckily for Kerry, Harrison Barnes' last shot at the buzzer went wide - and instead of a 1:3 lead for Sacramento in the series that would have placed it one home win away from qualifying for the next round, the series was tied at 2:2 and reopened.

"I take full responsibility for this mistake. I should have warned the players that we had no timeouts," Steve Kerr claimed at the end, but Kerr insisted: "Steve took the blame, but I take it upon myself. It was a situation Very frustrating.

The commentators criticized the Warriors for making the strange decisions in the last minute, and Jalen Rose who interpreted the game on ESPN even claimed that "this is not how experienced players should look in money time" and that "they made some mistakes that even rookies should not make in the playoffs" and even claimed that "if it had ended differently, this moment could have haunted Steph for the rest of his career," but Kerry looks at the timeout drama as a learning experience.

After a win, it's much easier.

"I would define this as an important lesson for the future. Me and the other players will learn from this how important it is to get down to the little details at important moments in the playoffs - you always have to be aware of the amount of timeouts, the shot clock, the situation in general," explained Kerry.

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Another shine.

Green and Kerry in consultation during the dramatic moments (Photo: GettyImages, Loren Elliot)

Another decisive factor in the narrow victory was the comeback of Draymond Green, who again made the difference with miraculous defensive actions in money time, and again reminded everyone who forgot how important a screw he is in the historic team.

Draymond finished the game with 12 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists, and was the signature of two momentum moves on defense in the last quarter, first with a big steal that stopped a one-on-three burst by Sacramento, and then with a huge block on Domantas Sabonis with a minute and a half to go.

But what ESPN described as "Green's winning move" actually happened even before the game itself, when he decided to suggest that Steve Kerr come off the bench - something he hadn't done in any playoff game since 2014. Permeated with a goal, and I approached him like a video that is being watched together with the coach in the briefing room. And during the game I saw several things," said Green, who, as I recall, was suspended from the third game of the series after hitting Sabonis.

"I saw how Kwon Looney played, and I realized that you simply can't take him out of the top five, to do that would be just bullshit, he doesn't deserve it," explained Green.

"I realized that I can come off the bench, if that's what it takes."

"There are players who always come to the field with the feeling of 'I deserve it'. They believe they deserve to be in the top five, no matter what the circumstances. I'm not like that. I'm ready to fight for the team," Green continued, recalling how he himself was jumped into the top five at the beginning of his career at the expense of Former All-Star David Lee.

"I remember how David hugged me, he came up to me and said, 'We trust you, I trust you, it doesn't matter what the situation is between us.' the personal".

Protection, sacrifice, leadership.

Draymond next to Kwon Looney (Photo: Reuters)

Green also received a lot of praise for his performance in the last defensive possession, when he decided to prevent at all costs from the hot Deron Fox from taking the last shot, forcing him to hand off to Harrison Barnes who missed.

"I knew HB (Harrison Barnes) was never going to score that," Green was seen saying as he celebrated the win with Kerry.

Barnes, ex-Golden State, is remembered as the one who "choked" in the Finals series in 2016, and as the one who repeatedly missed important shots in that series after the Cubs gambled on his shooting.

Since then Barnes has been through a lot, matured and matured as a player, but he missed the decisive shot again.

"After everything I went through in that playoff (in 2016), after I got over it, I believe I can forget and put that fumble behind me as well," Barnes said at the end, while Green admitted he wanted to direct Fox to hand off to Barnes.

"I knew that anyway, I wanted to prevent Fox from throwing. You don't want the opposing team's best player to take the last shot,

After ESPN wrote that "Green's idea saved the season for the Warriors", Klay Thompson also praised him for his sacrifice, defense and wisdom.

"The crowd gave him a very loud standing ovation today, and it was fully justified. Draymond will be remembered as the one who changed the game when it comes to guarding players in 5 different positions. We are grateful to Draymond for his unselfishness, for his leadership. He is a smarter player than any other player I got to know."

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• Golden State Warriors

• Stephen Kerry

• Draymond Green