A RELENTLESS MARCH BACK TO THE FINALS
For the Warriors, the postseason might as well have been renamed the real season. They knew that they would be judged — and would judge themselves — on whether they could take back the title that Cleveland had wrested from them a year earlier, and the most important steps toward a return to the Finals were about to begin.
The first opponent was Portland, and Blazers point guard Damian Lillard got things started with a bold prediction. A few days before the series, a Blazers TV analyst asked Lillard whether they would beat the Dubs in six games or seven. “Blazers in six,” Lillard said. To be fair, he said it with a smile that indicated he was only half serious, but he had no idea how much of a joke that prognostication would become.
Lillard and the Blazers seemed capable of backing up his prediction during the first half of Game 1. He and his backcourt running mate, CJ McCollum, were scalding hot, with McCollum scoring 27 points and Lillard 21 by halftime. But the Warriors tightened up defensively, especially in the fourth quarter when they limited Portland to 21 points, and they pulled away to a 121-109 win despite 41 points from McCollum and 34 from Lillard.
The only drawback was that Durant, who scored 32 points in Game 1, suffered a calf strain that kept him out the next two games. Then coach Steve Kerr finally had to give in to the physical discomfort he had been suffering since his 2015 back surgery, and the Warriors
announced after Game 2 that he would be away from the sidelines until further notice. Associate head coach Mike Brown took over for Kerr and proved to be more than ready for the task, as the Warriors finished off the sweep with easy wins in Games 2 and 4, and a comeback from a 17-point first-half deficit in Game 3.
Their quick work against Portland earned the Warriors a week of rest before their second-round series against Utah, who might have been able to offer more resistance in the series if 7-foot-2 center Rudy Gobert had not been limited by an injured knee and point guard George Hill wasn’t sidelined for the last three games with a toe injury. Then again, considering the way the Warriors seemed to emphasize a different feature of their offensive arsenal each game, it might not have made a difference at all.
They shared the wealth in Game 1 with all five starters, including Zaza Pachulia, scoring in double figures in a 106-94 win. In Game 2, the Jazz concentrated on trying to contain Curry and Durant, and Draymond Green made them pay by hitting five three-pointers in eight tries. Result: 115-104, Warriors. Durant proved he was fully over his calf
They knew that the final four would be the hardest to get.
problem with 38 points in Game 3 to offset an off shooting night from Curry and Thompson, who were only 7-for-29 combined in a 102-91 win. In Game 4, Curry bounced back to lead all scorers with 30 points as the Warriors wrapped things up with a 121-95 victory.
The series felt like little more than a tune-up for the conference finals against old rival San Antonio. In Game 1 the Spurs gave the Warriors their first moments of true concern in the entire postseason. In fact, the opener felt eerily like the nightmarish season opener in the way San Antonio dominated things — at least for the first 30 minutes.
But then came the moment that turned what was shaping up as a challenging series for the Warriors into another walkover. The Spurs led 76-55, and their brilliant forward Kawhi Leonard was playing superbly, already with 24 points. But then Leonard went up for a corner jumper with Pachulia rushing over to try to get a hand in his face. When Leonard landed his foot came down on Pachulia’s, and he badly sprained his ankle. He made both his free throws, but that was the last Leonard would play in the series.
It was no coincidence that the Warriors went on an 18-0 run immediately after he left, eventually managing to squeak out a 113-111 win. The rest of the series was no contest, with the Dubs winning the final three games by 36, 12 and 14 points.
The Leonard injury was devastating for the Spurs, but it didn’t diminish the Warriors’ sweep in the least. The Dubs had suffered their own injuries to key players, but because of their depth, they overcame them in a way the Spurs could not. They had swept through the first three rounds Moses Malone style: four, four, four. But they knew that the final four, against the defending champion Cavaliers, would be the hardest to get.