The one thing everyone missed from Steph Curry’s Warriors game-winner

Warriors star Steph Curry might have hit the game-winner that capped off an 18-point comeback against the Kings in Wednesday’s preseason matchup, but it was newly acquired teammate Chris Paul that got Golden State to the finish with the 116-115 win.

It was a familiar sight for anyone who’s paid even a little attention to the Warriors over the past decade or so. Curry had the ball in his hands with the game on the line as the final seconds of regulation ticked down. As he’s done so many times before, the baby-faced assassin rose up from behind the arc, shot over his defender and hit the shot that gave Golden State the lead.

What happened next was a lot less familiar.

Paul, whom the Dubs acquired in the offseason for castoff Jordan Poole, spent approximately 2.5 seconds lifting a finger in the air in celebration before morphing into the veteran leader the team will need him to be this season. The finger then pointed towards Kings players left and right as the 38-year-old shouted orders at his new teammates to get set defensively for the final 5.5 seconds of the game. The prepared Dubs thwarted Sacramento All-Star De’Aaron Fox’s attempt at the buzzer and got to leave Chase Center with the victory.

It might have just been a preseason game — albeit one that the Athletic described as a “regular-season dress rehearsal” — but the leadership that head coach Steve Kerr has talked about so much this offseason was on full display in this final play. The cherry on top is, as Paul said after the game, he wasn’t even sure if he’d be in the closing lineup for his new team.

“I didn’t even know I was going to play at the end of the fourth, because we hadn’t done that in any preseason game,” Paul said per NBC Sports Bay Area. “But after 19 years, that’s sort of been a staple for me. Managing the end of games and whatnot.”

It’s a “staple” that the Dubs will need to start the season more than ever. With Draymond Green recovering from an ankle injury, Golden State’s sole source of vocal leadership would have just been Kerr shouting from the sidelines. That approach is a lot easier to follow in the middle of a game, but certainly not in the final seconds of a one-possession game when an exuberant home crowd is screaming at the top of their lungs. Last season, 11 of the Warriors’ 38 losses were decided by 5 points or less. Anything they can do to tighten the screws in crunch time will be welcome.

Even when Green does come back, that extra bit of experience leadership will almost certainly help the Dubs in the long run. No longer will Curry have to emotionally carry the entire roster on his shoulders off the court while dominating on it. The leading Splash Brother can spend his energy doing what he does best, which is the thorough domination of opposing defenses across the league. Last season’s big speech ahead of Game 7 against the Kings was widely praised, but it was famously uncharacteristic of how Curry operates, and he still had to drop 50 points to get Golden State past its first-round opponent.

Teams with legitimate championship aspirations can’t sit around and wait for that kind of rah-rah moment. Having more consistent leadership — the kind that doesn’t have a teammate’s temper hanging over it  — would do just that.