Golden State Warriors

Stephen Curry and Draymond Green tried to warn everyone three years ago: It wouldn't be wise to write off the Western Conference champs.

Things can change in the blink of an eye, so you have to take advantage of your opportunity when you are here.” Three years ago, after losing in the Finals, Green warned everyone that Golden State would eventually return to their throne as West powerhouses. Due to the Warriors’ myriad of injuries in 2019-20, their regular season record doesn’t quite stack up to Chicago’s. However, looking at their playoff success, a record of 89-32 is pretty legendary, even if it falls under the 101-35 rampage the Bulls inflicted on everyone: To top it off, the Warriors have now lasted twice as long as LeBron James’ tenures in Miami (2010-2014) and Cleveland (2014-2018). In year eight of the journey together, Golden State is showing why they are the anomaly. Whether or not you believe everything happens for a reason, there is some truth to the notion that Golden State needed the temporary time away from this stage. Curry and Green set the culture for every player that rotates in and out of the system. It’s true: We will never know for certain if the Dubs could’ve kept this going in 2019-20 had Thompson not suffered a torn ACL and Curry not broken his hand. Under Curry’s leadership, they have displayed the poise and championship DNA to walk into road arenas and get the job done. It’s built on years and years of experience and the chemistry that we’ve built.” That’s before you add the historical achievements to the conversation. The core three of Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and Klay Thompson have remained together for 586 total games, which is something you never see in this era of high roster turnover and player movement. Just when you think it’s over, the Golden State Warriors force everyone to recalibrate.

Golden State Warriors NBA Finals: Steph Curry and the Warriors should be rooting for the Miami Heat in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals, and beyond.

The Dubs are in club Game 7. Now, the Heat are a good team that, should they win the next two games in the East Finals, would enter the NBA Finals with serious momentum. The NBA Playoffs are a war of attrition. The Warriors should be rooting for the Heat in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals Friday night. And then they should want the Heat to win again in Game 7 in Miami on Sunday. The Warriors should want the Miami Heat to win Friday night in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

Golden State have a shot at their fourth championship in less than a decade. It's easy to forget they were the worst team in the NBA just two seasons ago.

The Canadian has thrived in the postseason, too, drawing primary-defender duty on Doncic and providing perhaps the highlight of the playoffs so far when he dunked over the Slovenian superstar in Game 3 of the Conference finals. His selection as an All-Star back in February was perhaps more indicative of the dearth of elite forwards in the West with LA Clippers duo Kawhi Leonard and Paul George out, but Wiggins has fully acclimated to the Warriors’ defensive set-up and their constant-motion offense this year. But, looking back now, Curry’s absence from the final 12 games of the season might have been a blessing in disguise. History will remember this season as a continuation of the Golden State dynasty, especially if they go on to claim their fourth NBA title in less than a decade. It has been a remarkable feat of regeneration and rejuvenation. Hand surgery meant Steph Curry missed all but five games of the 2019-20 season, in which Golden State finished with the worst record in the NBA. They were only marginally better the season after, creeping into the inaugural postseason play-in tournament, where they were dumped out by a young Memphis Grizzlies team.

After defeating the Dallas Mavericks in five games in the Western Conference Finals, the Warriors are now set to host Game 1 of the 2022 NBA Finals on June 2.

The Warriors only finished No. 16 in offensive efficiency this year as Curry, Green, and Thompson each missed significant time with injuries, but their No. 2 overall defense kept them afloat. The team also deserves credit for developing Kevon Looney into a valuable big man after taking him No. 30 overall in 2015. The Wiggins trade now looks like an act of genius by the Warriors front office after his length and athleticism flustered Luka Doncic in the West Finals. Durant’s departure was the headline move, but the Warriors also needed to replenish the depth from their glory years. They will face the winner of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat. Kevin Durant is in Brooklyn, and Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and Klay Thompson are now each firmly entrenched in their 30s, but Golden State is again on the precipice of a championship.

With risky trades, value signings and unlikely picks, they found players who fit next to Stephen Curry—and reclaimed their place in the NBA.

Kevin Durant left the paradise of the Warriors for the purgatory of the Nets. Stephen Curry broke his hand, and Draymond Green’s spirit was broken. You may cancel your subscription at anytime by calling Customer Service. It was 2019, a long time ago for most humans and even longer for the Warriors, when they lost in the Finals and bottomed out.

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This story was super fun and informative ahead of the action at the Brickyard. At the end of the race, one lucky (and skilled, of course) man is going to end up chugging milk. When a photo of Meyer drinking buttermilk appeared in a local newspaper the following day, it caught the attention of a dairy industry executive who saw a marketing opportunity." The Indianapolis 500 is this weekend, and you know what that means? What you may not know is that the Warriors finished second in defensive efficiency this regular season (only behind the Celtics, who they may well meet in the Finals), and with Green and Andrew Wiggins leading the way, they have the length, depth and versatility to defend a variety of attacks. But he has to become a better defender and get in better shape, and those two are intertwined. and they have a lot of questions to answer this offseason. Both squads will be looking for their third trophy of the season. To sign up and get this in your inbox, fill out the information below. At the end of the day, the Warriors, albeit with fewer fireworks, are putting up a postseason offensive rating in line with the Durant years. - Botkin: "This is how you win without superpowers. It's the Warriors' sixth Finals appearance in eight years.

Melissa Rohlin details how GM Bob Myers and the Warriors rose from the depths to reach their sixth NBA Finals in eight years.

And the fact there's a finite timeline to all of this in terms of trying to play at this level. "The thing about being in the Finals that I think would be a common thread for an executive or coach or a player is the tension of it," Myers told FOX Sports. "It's the inability to breathe. "Where our core is in terms of our careers, we feel like we have a whole lot more left in the tank," Curry said. There was the surreal feeling Myers felt after the Warriors first reached the mountaintop in 2015. I think going back to the Finals for six years in a row is just kind of unfathomable." "In hindsight, it probably was a good recovery for us. Would they be able to figure things out in time to make a run? It wasn't until they won 15 of their last 20 games that they started to look like a semblance of their old selves. But there were too many injuries to gauge the team. He pointed to all the gray hairs in his beard at age 32. But back then, there were only eight NBA teams, compared to the 30 there are today. And so when you make all these sacrifices and come up short, the pain is like, 'I worked really hard for this, and it didn't happen.'"

The Golden State Warriors have won the Western Conference Finals, and with the victory, they were handed some interesting celebratory hats.

Here were some reactions to the merch, with comparisons to a gas station find and more: All things considered, I’m not sure how I feel about these hats. “I dreamt about this like every day…

Golden State's journey to the 2022 NBA Finals has gone swimmingly, thanks to the Splash Brothers (Steph Curry and Klay Thompson) and Poole Party (Jordan ...

He returned in Game 5 of the 2019 NBA Finals and ruptured his Achilles tendon. But the Thunder provided the first real postseason challenge for Golden State in two years. - Won NBA Western Conference Finals (4-0) vs. It was smooth sailing in the first two rounds, but the Warriors hit a snag against James Harden, Chris Paul and the Rockets in the West finals. The Warriors' run to the 2015 Finals wasn't highly contested, dropping only 3 games on their way to wining the franchise's first NBA Championship since 1975. The shorthanded Nuggets were no match for the Warriors' small-ball "Death lineup." - Won NBA Western Conference Finals (4-1) vs. And there's nothing harder than closing out a series, whether on the road or at home. Let's start by saying this: There's no such thing as an "easy" playoff run in the NBA because everyone is there for a reason. We rank the Warriors' six NBA Finals runs since 2015, in order from "easiest" to the toughest. - Won NBA Western Conference Finals (4-0) vs. The Warriors have cruised to their first Finals appearance since 2019.

The Warriors are now one series away from their fourth championship since 2015; the team's core three of Curry, Thompson, and Draymond Green are already locks ...

In the modern NBA the Spurs are the gold standard for a dynasty that was simultaneously rooted in stability and adaptability, exactly what the Warriors are striving for. There won’t be anything quite like this Warriors team ever again, and if you’re a basketball fan it’s good to have them back in the Finals and to know, for right now, that they still belong there. Leonard got hurt in the 2017 Western Conference Finals (which the Spurs lost to the Warriors, incidentally) and played only nine games in the 2017-18 season before demanding a trade. In 2010, the team was sold to a forward-thinking and deep-pocketed ownership group led by venture capitalist Joe Lacob and movie producer Peter Guber. In 2011, the Warriors drafted Klay Thompson with the 11th pick, then plucked Draymond Green with the 35th choice the following year. From 1992 to 2014—a 22- year stretch—the Warriors never won more than 50 games in a single season, and most seasons won far less than that. After dispensing with the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night, the Golden State Warriors are now headed for their sixth NBA Finals in the past eight years.

Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors are headed to the NBA Finals after they beat the Dallas Mavericks in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals on ...

- SHOULD THE BUCKS MAKE A TRADE? On Sunday afternoon, the Milwaukee Bucks lost Game 7 to the Boston Celtics, which officially ends their 2021-22 NBA season in the second-round. The Warriors had missed the NBA Playoffs in each of the last two seasons, but prior to that, they had made the NBA Finals five times in a row and won three titles. The Warriors are now the champions of the 2022 Western Conference, and they will move on to the NBA Finals to face off with either the Boston Celtics or the Miami Heat (the Celtics lead the series 3-2).

One year later, Steph Curry has fulfilled the message he made to the Warriors and the rest of the NBA.

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The Golden State Warriors are back in the NBA Finals after not even making the postseason over the last two seasons. Last year they were absolutely humbled ...

It was hard to take those words seriously. Instead, they were eliminated in the NBA’s Play-In tournament. This wasn’t even the playoffs — it was the play-in.

It wasn't from the inaugural Western Conference Finals MVP, Stephen Curry, even if his award is very much well deserved. It wasn't Klay Thompson, who continues ...

The Warriors kept the Mavericks to a 15.6% rim frequency throughout the series — the best mark out of the 4 conference finalists. In terms of defensive schemes, the Warriors frequently switched from various zone configurations (1-2-2 and 3-2) to man-to-man with conditional switching. Game 5 marked a departure from the various zone configurations and mid-possession switch-ups. Dončić finds an angle for a drop step, and it seems as if there is no chance for anyone else to do anything about the easy layup. Without Looney on the floor, that number drops to 20.5% — equivalent to the worst offensive rebounding team during the regular season. But Looney trusts that he has help behind him; Green, as the low man, comes over from the weak side and stays vertical on his contest, forcing the miss. The diminishing returns of an isolation-heavy heliocentric offense that banks on Dončić as its central offensive figure means that habits can be scouted. Seemingly more than in previous games, the Warriors eschewed playing zone and were content with matching up. That would translate to the 3rd-best offensive rebounding team in the league during the regular season. He put up another double-double of 10 points and 18 rebounds, 7 on the offensive boards (and 1 more than the Mavericks). This is your run-of-the-mill staggered-screen action for Thompson — “Motion Strong Dribble option,” if we want to be technical about it — that gets Thompson a catch-and-shoot three. A very crucial mistake opponents have made throughout the course of Looney’s career is being fooled into thinking that Looney has a huge target behind his back.

"It's my honor to present this trophy to the Western Conference champions ... the Golden State Warriors," said Livingston.

The inaugural Magic Johnson Western Conference MVP Trophy went to Warriors guard Stephen Curry. "It's my honor to present this trophy to the Western Conference champions ... the Golden State Warriors," said Livingston, who won three rings with Golden State and handed over the Oscar Robertson Trophy. PEORIA — The Golden State Warriors enlisted some veteran help for their trophy presentation Thursday night after they clinched the Western Conference championship and earned a trip to the NBA Finals.

Postgame Roundup: See what the Warriors had to say following their Game 5 series-clinching win against the Mavericks on Thursday night.

Here’s Green and Curry ensuring Dub Nation that the team knows they still have a job to finish. they needed each other from the beginning." "They're a really unique trio in terms of how they complement one another... They dealt with the devastating leg injuries to Thompson as well as the various injuries to Green and Curry. This season in particular saw the Warriors’ core 3 play together for only 11 total minutes. This group is battle tested, and their postseason run is further evidence of their legendary chemistry together. the fight that he's been through to get back to this point." — NBA (@NBA) pic.twitter.com/mV45cl9171 May 27, 2022 He was on fire shooting the ball as he finished the game with a true shooting percentage of 64.0%. Putting the excellent performance aside, the true beauty of Thompson’s night is that it serves as validation for all the hard work and sacrifices he dealt with during his two years away with injuries. I can't believe we're back." "I don't wanna get emotional... Led by Klay Thompson’s 8 three-pointers, Golden State’s offense overwhelmed Luka Doncic and the rest of the Mavericks to take home the win. Thompson was the star of the night after he led the team with 32 points while shooting 8-of-16 from the three-point line.

Cowherd previously stated that Steph Curry would never appear in another NBA Finals as a member of Golden State.

And for Green, seeing Curry and Thompson back together at this stage after all of the adversity was everything the franchise needed. The Warriors proved that their reign among the NBA’s elite is not done yet. Cowherd’s thoughts on Golden State: “You gotta blow this team up, it’s over.”

Golden State's Draymond Green said Thursday he expects the Warriors will face the Celtics in the NBA Finals with Game 6 of the Eastern Conference still to ...

But tomorrow when this Game 6 comes on, I’m turning the page, and I’m scouting because we want to finish this thing off the right way." "We’re happy to be here, but it would help our legacy a lot if we completed the mission and won the whole thing," Thompson said. "I think both teams are tough," Green said after Game 5.