PERFECT PLAYOFFS
Going 12-0 so far puts Warriors in elite company, but they know real challenge still lies ahead,
Having burst consistently into rarefied territory over the past three years, the Golden State Warriors have again rumbled into an experience to which few teams could relate. The playoffs are meant to test everybody, even teams loaded with Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson. And yet they provided these Warriors precisely zero resistance. When Game 1 of the NBA final tips June 1, the Warriors will have spent 52 days without losing.
The playoff rampage has already added another historic accomplishment to the Warriors’ remarkable three-year run, which includes an NBA title and a 73-win season. By sweeping the San Antonio Spurs on Monday night, they became the third team to enter the final without a playoff loss and the first to win its first 12 games in a single playoffs. They joined the 1989 and 2001 Lakers, who both entered the final 11-0 because the NBA used a best-of-five format in the first round.
Almost nobody understands, firsthand, the position the Warriors find themselves in. Even the 1989 Lakers had a different experience. They lost guard Byron Scott to an injury before the final began, and they were swept in the final after Magic Johnson went down with another injury, capping one of the more bizarre playoff runs in league history.
The 2001Lakers, really, provide the only comparison for the 2017 Warriors. The relationship between peak Shaquille O’Neal and ascendant Ko- be Bryant reached its greatest, most harmonious stage, and the Lakers destroyed all comers. It might be the only team with an idea of what the Warriors feel right now.
“There was just a complete feeling of invincibility in our locker room,” said Mark Madsen, a rookie forward on the 2001 Lakers and currently a Lakers assistant coach. “San Antonio was supposed to be a test that year, and we were able to sweep them. Kobe was playing at the highest level. Shaq was dominating people. Invincibility is the word that comes to my mind in terms of how we were playing, how we felt and how we were going to dismantle the opponent. That was the confidence.”
But their dominance turned into their biggest challenge, a predicament the Warriors now face. The Lakers had to wait nine days for the final to start while the Philadelphia 76ers outlasted the Milwaukee Bucks in seven games. Coach Phil Jackson gave the Lakers two days off entirely and over the next week tried to keep the Lakers sharp and fo- cused. He could not.
The 76ers stunned the Lakers in Game 1, beating them in overtime after Allen Iverson, the league MVP, nailed the game-clinching shot and created a lasting image. After hitting his step-back jumper in front of the Los Angeles bench, Iverson stepped over defender Tyronn Lue — now the coach of Cleveland, Golden State’s overwhelmingly likely final opponent.
“We were hungry,” Madsen said. “We were ready. But we were out of rhythm. We had not been in a lot of battles lately. Philly took it to us on our home court. After the game, in our locker room, everyone was in shock. There was a feeling of shock. There was a feeling of, ‘Oh, my goodness. They just came in and beat us on our own home court.’”
The Lakers regrouped in time to win the series in five games, finishing the playoffs 15-1, the best winning percentage in playoff history. The mark gives the Warriors something to shoot for, if they want to. By winning in five games, the Warriors would set a record for winning percentage in a single post-season. By sweeping the final, they could stamp themselves as perhaps the greatest team of all time.
The Warriors, though, have a different aim. They have played all season to avenge their performance in last year’s final, where the Cavaliers overcame a 3-1 deficit and prevented them from winning consecutive titles.
“At the end of the day, had we went 4-3, 4-3, 4-3, we’d still be in the same position,” Green said. “So it’s not the end of the world. It doesn’t mean too much. It means we got a little more rest. We played a few less games. But it’s not like you get some trophy or something for being undefeated throughout the first three rounds of the playoffs. Like I said before, it’s about winning the championship, and we’re four games away from that.”
Curry concurred, saying, “12-and-0 is great, but it doesn’t mean anything going into the next series, and we have to understand that.”