Warriors' Big Three become a bigger deal
Curry, Thompson and Green set milestone with Game 5 victory
SAN FRANCISCO >> With a victory in Game 5 on Monday, the Warriors are now one win away from their fourth NBA title in six playoff runs. But the team's core trio has already made history.
A 104-94 win over the Boston Celtics was Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green's 20th Finals victory as a trio. The milestone set an NBA record for most Finals games won by a trio in NBA history over the last 30 years, beating out San Antonio's Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili — who have 19 Finals wins and four titles together.
“Those three are some of the greatest to ever play. I feel like they played my whole life, my whole childhood. To be mentioned in the same company as them, it's humbling,” Thompson said. “It won't mean much unless we get another win. That's awesome, but it would really add to our legacy if we closed this thing out.”
This Warriors' core won its first
Finals game in June 2015 against LeBron James' Cleveland Cavaliers and won its first Finals appearance in six games.
Golden State went to five straight Finals, losing the 2016 series after blowing a 3-1 lead and coming back with Kevin Durant to go back to back in 2017 and 2018 against the Cavs in both. The Warriors swept the Cavaliers in 2017 and won in five games in 2018.
Their fifth Finals appearance was a devastating one as Golden State lost Durant to an Achilles tear in a Game 5 win and Thompson to an ACL tear in a Game 6 series-clinching loss to the Toronto
Raptors. The two major injuries began a two-year playoff gap for the trio as Thompson rehabbed his ACL and, later, an Achilles injury. Curry broke his hand in October 2019 and played only five games during the 2019-20 season.
Once the trio returned to action together — which took longer than anticipated due to Thompson's rehab and injuries to Curry and Green — the Warriors were back on the fast track to the Finals.
Duncan, Parker and Ginobili won their 19 Finals games as part of San Antonio's dynasty under coach Gregg Popovich. Duncan won his first in 1999, and the trio formed in 2002 when Ginobili
came to the Spurs from the Italian pro league. They won titles in 2003, 2005 and 2007. They won their final championship together in 2014, when Duncan was 37 and Ginobili was 36 years old.
The 20 wins for Curry, Thompson and Green are the most for any trio in NBA history since the Lakers trio of Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Michael Cooper of the 1980s won 22 games over eight Finals appearances.
That Showtime Lakers trio won five titles during that run. Curry, Thompson and Green will have two chances this week to get within one Finals win (and one NBA title) of matching that trio.