DOORSTEP OF HISTORY
Warriors a win from first perfect playoffs
CLEVELAND — Postseason perfection. No team ever has gone 16-0 through an NBA postseason, but the Warriors stand one game away from being the first to do so. But they need Game 4 of the Finals on Friday for their fourth straight series sweep.
Last year, they became the first team with 73 victories in a season. That achievement sort of became moot when they flopped and became the first team to cough up a 3-1 Finals lead. So they want 16-0. But not because it would make a spiffy bookend to that 73-victory mark.
“Well, 16-0 means we’re champs,” Klay Thompson said. “It all comes down to this one game. It would be a great piece of history. It wasn’t a goal to start the postseason, but now that’s it’s attainable, we have our eyes set on it.”
The Warriors swear they haven’t discussed 16-0. Well, maybe they’ve heard some talk …
But face it, they are human and everybody, if given the chance, wants to do something that’s never been done. Sort of like scaling Mt. Everest for the first time. Why do it? Because it’s there.
“The only reason that came up is because we want to win this next game, and if we win that, that’s 16-0,” Draymond Green said. “It definitely wasn’t one of those things where it was a goal, where it’s like, ‘Let’s go out and go to the playoffs and let’s go 16-0.’ That’s too much.
“But now that it’s a legit possibility, one game away, I think you should think about it because you want to win the next game. You don’t want to prolong the series and give a team more confidence. It’s a realistic goal and it’s something that you should push for now.”
The Cavaliers have other ideas. They don’t want the Warriors celebrating on their home court for the second time in three years — although they partied last year on the Warriors’ floor.
The Cavs put on a brave face Thursday, a day after giving the Warriors their absolute best shot in every way but still losing, 118-113, in Game 3. Golden State closed on an 11-0 run and shut out Cleveland after J.R. Smith stuck a 3-pointer at 3:09 for a six-point Cavs lead. But Kevin Durant scored seven of the 11 points and the Cavs missed eight straight shots. Now Cleveland want to prolong the series while preventing history.
“My mindset is to try to get every game. Tomorrow’s another important opportunity … to continue the series,” said LeBron James, averaging a Finals triple-doubl,e but admitting after Game 3 that he felt “drained” in the exasperating round. “It’s been a long season, and you hate for it to end this way. So mentally and physically, I got to prepare myself.”
Cavs coach Tyronn Lue was part of the 2001 Lakers, who entered the Finals 11-0 (the first round was best-of-five). But the Lakers lost Finals Game 1 to Indiana before ripping off four more wins. Lue badly wants to prevent history, but not just to blemish the Warriors’ mark.
“Because it’s a step in the right direction. We’re not going to give in. We’re going to keep competing,” Lue said.
With the Cavaliers feeding on desperation and hope, the Warriors realize the danger of a cornered creature. So 16-0 takes a back seat.
“Not something I’m thinking about or any of us are thinking about. It’s just win. Let’s go win, and then we can savor a championship however we want,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.
“You want to get it done. You don’t want to mess around. You’re up 3-0, you have all the momentum, you have to carry that through.”
And do it against a team that’s ready to fight you to the death. And maybe 16-0 hasn’t been a real motivator so far.
“It definitely will be [Friday]. We haven’t talked about it once, but [Friday] before the tip if winning a championship comes with going 16-0, we’ll mention it,” Thompson said. “Not the end-all if we don’t, but it would be an amazing feat if we did. But it won’t be easy because closeout games are always the hardest.”