Golden State will return to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2019 after defeating the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference Finals.
Golden State won the series, 4-1, with a 120-110 win in Game 5 on Thursday in San Francisco.
Because of injury, the Warriors spent a couple of seasons wandering the wilds of the NBA. But their famous core – Stephen the curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green – get together and play some of the team’s best basketball, a no-brainer considering the team’s winning history.
“I absolutely enjoy watching our boys compete and stay connected, improve and succeed,” Golden State coach Steve Kerr said this week. “We’ve been through a lot over the last few years, so it’s great to be back in this position.”
Curry was named the Western Conference final’s brightest player, a new honor this season.
Golden State won three championships and advanced to five finals in a row from 2015 to 2019, before it all started to fall apart. While fell to the Toronto Raptors in the finals of 2019Thompson tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee and Kevin Durant tore his right Achilles tendon.
It will get worse. A few weeks later, Durant, who had helped Golden State win two championships, left for the Nets. Four games in the next season, Curry broke his left arm. Golden State ended with the worst record in the league, an unfortunate blow for a franchise that seems to be on the cusp of establishing itself as a dynasty.
Earlier this season, in a podcast interview with ex-player JJ RedickGreen admit his uncertainty about the future – of the team and his own – as Golden State strove during that helpless 2019-20 season. Without Thompson, who spent a lot of time recuperating while away from the team, and Curry, who appeared in just five games, Green couldn’t hide his disappointment. He’s mentored some of the team’s younger players, but he’s also cranky and horribly shot.
Green told Redick: “I can’t go by myself. “Never have I felt my window closed because of my skills or because of what I have to offer. But if we’re this bad every year, my window is closed because I can’t get up for these pointless games. ”
Thompson suffer another misfortune as he tore his right Achilles tendon during a private practice session before the start of the 2020-21 season.
Behind the scenes, however, Golden State’s decision-makers are building toward a future — a future they hope will resemble the team’s not-so-distant past. In February 2020, General Manager Bob Myers traded for Andrew Wiggins, the #1 draft pick of 2014, who never fulfilled his seemingly huge potential with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
With the Warriors, Wiggins will prove he can do everything: shoot, pass, counter-attack, defend. On Monday, Kerr described the transaction for Wiggins as “the key to all of this.” Golden State’s depth on the wing disappeared after the 2019 final. Thompson was injured. Shaun Livingston has retired. And Andre Iguodala was changed to Memphis Grizzlies.
“So trading with Wiggins allowed us to start rebuilding the defense on that wing,” Kerr said. The wig is so good. He’s gotten so much better over the past few years. He’s a perfect fit next to our boys. ”
This season, Wiggins entered the All-Star for the first time as Golden State led 53-29, the third-best run in the West. There are other meaningful moments along the way. Broken curry tournament record for pointer 3 in career. Thompson, after 941 days of absence, performed The long-awaited comeback from the injuryscored 17 points – and even sank – in the win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
But Golden State didn’t exactly run into the knockout stages. It took time for Thompson to regain familiarity, and Curry missed the final 12 games of the regular season with a sprained foot. During a particularly tense period in late March, the Warriors lost seven of eight games. It’s far from guaranteed that they are capable of making it to the knockout stages.
But Golden State only needed five games to knock out the sixth-seeded Denver Nuggets in the first round, then six games to handle the second-seeded Grizzlies in the convention semifinals.
The Mavericks, despite Luka Doncic’s best efforts, have a little more than a speed bump.
“I felt like we had the opportunity to be a lot better than the regular season,” Kerr said this week, adding: “From the very beginning we believed we could be a The team is pretty good and we’re grabbing some momentum right now and trying to get through it as best we can. “
