339. Warriors 2019 playoffs round 2

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Warriors!

Once again one of our local sports teams has done something exceptional. And I don’t just mean they won, but they won in the context of a phenomenal story. It’s always the story that pulls me in. The next paragraph is background on the Warriors for the tiny group of people who aren’t familiar with their story, but might be interested in getting a quick review so they can appreciate the “story” I want to talk about.

The Warriors team was built around two amazing shooters, guards Steph Curry and Klay Thompson who are known as the Splash Brothers for their ability to hit 3 point shots. With the back court in place, the organization -- which is a model of what a basketball team should be -- started building up a supporting front court with Dramon Green and Andre Iguodala (a veteran starter and one of the most outstanding 6th men in the game). They won a championship but the next season they came up short against the same team they had beaten the season before -- there were some good reasons for this. The organization responded by going after Kevin Durant, either the best or second best individual player in basketball, depending on who you ask. With KD, Curry, Thompson, Green, and Iguodala they constituted what is popularly known as either the Hampton’s 5 or the Death Lineup. This group led the team to back to back championships and was leading the team through the second round of this year’s playoffs when KD went down with an injury late in game 5 against Houston. This has been a very close series with, through game 4, each team winning their home games. The Warriors were home for game 5, so this gave Houston a shot at “breaking serve” as it were. Last year, the Warriors/Houston series was the REAL championship as, after just barely beating Houston the Warriors easily defeated the champion in the east. The basketball world had been eagerly anticipating Houston getting another shot at the Warriors now that one of their players, Chris Paul, was healthy. Now, late in the 5th game, Chris Paul was healthy and they were playing the Warriors even in the series, winning their two home games while the Warriors won their two home games. That's when the Warriors lost KD to injury. That’s the setup for this story. A frustrated team, eager for revenge after feeling they were cheated the previous season finally given an advantage against the champions. This is when it gets interesting.

The Warriors managed to pull out that game 5, putting them up 3 games to 2. The next game would be in Houston and then a game 7 would be played in Oakland. As I’ve said, so far the home team had won every game and now the Warriors would be going to Houston short arguably their best player. Steve Kerr, their coach, was forced to play his bench -- the non-starters who had seen very little playing time because this was, to date, a close run battle between the starters -- and they responded brilliantly. But basketball is impossible to predict and Steph Curry, quite possibly the best shooter of all time, ended the first half of game 6 with zero points and three fouls -- so that he had to be pulled off the floor. So now the Warriors were missing KD and Curry was shooting blanks or sitting on the bench. Sounds like they’re doomed, right? No.

Klay Thompson and the bench managed to play Houston to a draw in the first half. Fate gave Houston two huge handicaps and they couldn’t take advantage. Then came the second half.

If KD isn’t the best player in basketball, then that honor goes to LeBron James. The Warriors sought out KD mostly so they could use him to balance the advantage James gave the Cavalliers the year they didn’t win the championship. And that strategy worked for two years. After game 6 LeBron James Tweeted the following, “NEVER underestimate the heart of a champion!! !!” 

After scoring zero points in the first half, Steph Curry scored 33 points in the second half. Especially in the crucial fourth quarter, he took over the game sinking long threes while also attacking the basket for easy twos. The dagger to Houston’s heart was a perfect Warriors play that started with Curry, passed though the hands of almost the entire team before it went to Klay Thompson who buried yet another three. It was a master class in team basketball.

The Warriors still have another series to get through before they make it to the championship round, and the longer they play the better the chance of their getting KD back, along with two of their centers who were injured earlier. They could get even better by the end. But what people will remember is what they did while short handed against a very dangerous opponent. 

Bringing the story up to date

That series against Houston seems so long ago now. The next series, against Portland, was also entertaining, but in the end the Warriors won. They then faced off against Toronto in the finals. Toronto won in 6 games but the Warriors team they defeated was without two of its three best players. Both KD and Klay Thompson started game 6 but left with new, more serious injuries. The Warriors did well with the players they had left, but that wasn't good enough.

Since then the Warriors team, and indeed many of the teams in the NBA have been blown-up and re-imagined. Last I heard, the Warriors will start the 2019-2020 season with only four players from their "dynasty." A fifth player, Klay Thompson, will return later from his injury. Most of the new team will be new faces and I'm actually eager to see how they do. I suspect that the "dynasty" is over, however. 

What's a little awkward about this is that they are also leaving Oakland and moving to a new facility in San Francisco. Instead of showing off a championship team in their new house, they will start with a team that is still learning how to play with each other.