BACK TO THE FINALS
1st NBA team to start playoffs 12-0 awaits Cleveland or Boston
ANTONIO — When it was over, after the Warriors had beaten the Spurs 129-115 to run Golden State’s playoff record to 12-0, the boys from the bay sauntered and jogged off the court like they were heading for the showers after an exhibition game.
Draymond Green, I’ve seen him roar off the court screaming and gesturing, but Monday he strolled, shaking a couple hands on the walk out.
In a way, the whole playoffs so far have been an exhibition for the Warriors. All but one of their playoff wins has been a cakewalk.
Until now, no NBA team had ever been 12-0 in the playoffs, but clearly this has been just a warm-up for the big show. The NBA Finals begin June 1, in Oakland, with either Cleveland or Boston coming to town.
The Warriors seem ready. In the second quarter Monday, Spurs’ guard Dejounte Murray angled in for a breakaway layup, but was cut off by Kevin Durant, who fly-swatted MurSAN
ray’s shot with his right hand, smacking it off the glass, then, arms spinning like windmillblades, Durant swatted the ball again with his left hand.
What, one block per shot isn’t enough for the Warriors to make their point? It could not have been more dramatic or emphatic had Durant ripped the leather ball apart and eaten it.
“They play a beautiful game,” Spurs’ coach Gregg Popovich said.
Beautiful and ruthless. Sometimes the Warriors just seem to be foolin’ with you. Stephen Curry spins defenders like they’re tipsy landlubbers walking the ship’s deck in a raging storm. He sliced up the Spurs’ excellent defense for four layups in the first quarter.
Durant and Curry might be playing at the very peaks of their respective games, and they’re playing well together. Curry scored 36 points and Durant 29, with 12 rebounds.
If Curry and Klay Thompson are the Splash Brothers, Curry and Durant — so far in the playoffs — are the Cash Brothers, ready to roll when the money’s on the line.
If you came back Monday night from a year in outer space, you might look at the Warriors and say, “They’ve got Curry AND Durant? That’s not fair.”
We’ll find out if it’s fair, because now comes the acid test. Are the Warriors’ really this good? Incredibly, they haven’t been tested through the first three rounds of the playoffs, at least in part because their three opponents were all injurydepleted.
But 12-and-0 is 12-and-0, and so far the Warriors are very much the real deal.
“They play a great brand of basketball and they’re fun to watch,” said Popovich, “and they did it with class. Hats off to them.”
Even though the Warriors have been the heavy favorite to win it all for the past two months, Popovich said they’re underrated.
“Make no mistake, they get short shrift sometimes,” he said. “They are talented, but that’s not the whole equation . . . This is, you know, maybe the best defensive team in the league, on top of everything . . . On offense, no team is more unselfish finding the open man.”
The chance of the Warriors entering the Finals, on cruise control, overconfident or undermotivated: less than zero.
In the first half Monday, Curry made a preposterous hook layup and seemed to get knocked to the floor. He stayed down for a couple seconds, as if pleading his case to the refs. When Curry finally got back on defense, Draymond Green got in his face, scolding him for putting theatrics over hustle.
A few minutes later, Durant barked at teammate Andre Iguodala over a defensive mixup.
With Green setting that tone, this was not a team looking ahead to the Finals. They’re not foolin’ around. The Warriors know what they can accomplish and they know what they stand to lose, and they know that the space in between those extremes is the Grand Canyon.
They will leave this season as heralded historic heroes or colossal failures.
The Warriors’ aren’t entering the home stretch, they’re basically starting their real season. They’ll take on the Cleveland Cavaliers or the Boston Celtics (the Cavs have a 2-1 series lead with Game 4 Tuesday night in Cleveland).
If it’s Cleveland, pick your villain: The Warriors, who some see as the rich kids trying to buy a championship by snagging Durant, and the Cavs, led by LeBron James, this generation’s greatest player and greatest Big Game leader.
But LeBron’s not here yet. Right now, the Warriors’ challenge will be to keep their edge and explore the upper limits of their potential. Going into the conference finals, one Spurs player said they had a chance to win if they played at Level 10 and the Warriors played at Level 7.
The Spurs, without injured superstar Kawhi Leonard, never reached Level 7, because the Warriors didn’t allow ’em to. The Warriors probably hit Level 8, but that might not be good enough in the Finals.