When his number was called, Golden State’s Moses Moody was ready to contribute

SAN FRANCISCO — Patience isn’t a trait normally associated with a 20-year-old who wants to make an immediate impact at his job, especially in the world of sports.

But when Golden State Warriors needed a must win Thursday to keep their hopes of defending their NBA championship alive, it was second year pro Mosey Moody who came off the bench and provided a much needed spark.

He hit a pair of 3-pointers in the first half to help fuel a surge where the Warriors began to pull away from the Sacramento Kings.

“I thought Moses really got us going in that first half with those two threes,” said Golden State coach Steve Kerr, a noted role player himself during his playing days.  

Moody finished the game with 13 points and 3 rebounds while playing for nearly 16 minutes as the Warriors won 114-97 to pull to within 2-1 in the best-of-seven in the NBA Western Conference first round showdown.

Why was his play so key?  The Warriors were without suspended star Draymond Green and defensive sparkplug Gary Payton II was sidelined by illness. Without key contributions from the role players like Moody, Golden State could have easily fallen into a 3-0 pit with slim chances of advancing.

“That’s what the playoffs are about,”  Kerr said. “You ride with your stars and then the guys, the role players need to step up and make plays, and our guys did that tonight.”

The regular season didn’t have a fairy tale feel for the former Arkansas star. He saw action in just 63 games and spent time in the G League. 

But he kept working hard, waiting for his chance.

“I don’t necessarily get regular minutes,” he told reporters after the game. “All year, it’s been the same situation, same circumstance, coming in, you don’t know if you’re going to get two minutes or 25 minutes…So I’ve had a lot of practice at it, and so at this point, you know, it’s the playoffs so it’s obviously a different circumstance but just come in there and do what I’ve been doing.”

Moody said he lives for moments like Thursday night.

“I’m not going to act like I’ve got the ultimate poise or anything or any of that but I like the moment,” he said. “I like the situation. High intensity basketball, everybody — every possession means a lot. That’s how I’ve always play.”

And winning is in his blood.

“I feel like winning is a skill,” he said. “Some people coming up as a kid, you might not have been on a good team. Then you go to college, and college, might not have been that good or high school, you might have been the best one but your team doesn’t win. You come to the NBA and you might go to a team that’s not that good. So you’ve never really been in that circumstance coming up.”

“So I feel like that’s really a positive when you can and you’re used to not necessarily winning by fighting to win or sacrifice to go win, all the things that go into winning.”