The Golden State Warriors' 2025-26 season has been one of adversity and resilience.

Through a plethora of injuries, particularly devastating season-ending hits to Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody, as well as lengthy absences for Steph Curry, Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford, and more, the Warriors have had to battle through one of their toughest seasons in recent memory.

However, if you thought that would mean they'd roll over and end the season without a fight in the Play-In Tournament, you'd be wrong. In a do-or-die game with the season on the line, never bet against these guys. Curry, Draymond Green, Porzingis, Horford, and some of the young studs for the Warriors showed up and showed out in their massive Play-In victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night.

After the huge 126-121 win, Steve Kerr lauded his players for the competitive fire and resilience on display throughout the game.

"All I'm thinking about is how proud I am of the guys to really show what they're made of and the fact that we're still alive. We've got to go to Phoenix now and try to get another one and get ourselves in the playoffs. More than anything, I'm just so proud of the guys. We must have been down double figures five, six separate times. And we came back every single time. It was such an incredible display of guts and competitiveness and connection."

Kerr specifically pointed to the elite play of his two long-time stars, Curry and Green, that sealed the win in the final seconds.

"Obviously, Steph and Dray took over down the stretch. Dray's defense — he's the best defender I've ever seen in my life. It's just insane what he does out there. The job he did on Kawhi (Leonard). I thought our coaches did a really good job with the game plan to blitz Kawhi and try to put a crowd around him, so the preparation was good and the players really followed through."

"For one night, we're us. We're champions again. That may sound crazy to everyone out there. It's a Play-In game. I don't care. Just absolutely beautiful to watch."

Prior to this game, Green went semi-viral on social media after proclaiming himself the second-best defender in the NBA when asked about Spurs' big man and Defensive Player of the Year frontrunner Victor Wembanyama.

At 36 years old and with the nagging injuries that have somewhat hampered Green in some games this year, it wasn't out of the ordinary to deem Green a great, but not quite top-three or perhaps even top-five defender in the league anymore.

He shut that down on Wednesday in the fourth quarter. In the final 8 minutes he played, Green didn't even attempt a single shot, but he was easily the most impactful player outside of Curry and his dagger three.

Throughout the entire fourth, Green stepped up to take the Kawhi Leonard assignment, tasked with defending the All-Star Game MVP who has had the best offensive season of his career.

Green simply put Leonard in jail. The Clippers tried running offense through Leonard, but Green was all over him, expertly navigating screens, applying pressure on the perimeter, and wisely funneling Leonard into strong help defense when necessary.

Including the two steals he got to seal the game with under 50 seconds left, one on an inbounds pass where he forced Leonard to stand out of bounds with aggressive defense and tipped it to a defender, and another where he straight-up took Leonard's lunch money, it was a defensive masterclass on one of the best offensive talents in today's NBA.