Warriors hit a high on way to promised land
PORTLAND, Ore. — The Warriors seem to be reaching a cosmic high, at just the right time.
They lead the Portland Trail Blazers 3-0 in the Western Conference finals, with Game 4 here Monday night. One more win and the Warriors bust into the NBA Finals for the fifth straight year.
Those five consecutive trips deep into the postseason supposedly had taken a toll, physical and emotional, but the Warriors are playing with a new attitude, a revived style and a refreshed image.
And by style, I am not referring to the outfit Stephen Curry was rocking Sunday morning at a team breakfast and media session at the team’s hotel. Curry’s fashion-statement shorts, slimmer and skimpier than regular basketball shorts, drew mock horror from Draymond Green.
“That’s the OG fit,” someone said, referring to the old-style basketball shorts. “That ain’t no OG fit,” Green sneered. The real fashion statement that is rocking the
basketball world right now is the Warriors’ team look: more flying, less crying.
The bedrock of their offense is speed, which starts with pushing the ball downcourt at every opportunity. Sparked by a revitalized defense that causes turnovers and missed shots, the Warriors are simply running teams out of buildings.
In their three wins over Portland, the Warriors outscored the Blazers 53-23 on fast breaks.
Green said he’s been making an effort to “try to create a pace that I know we can be successful at. I know when we get the game at our pace, not many teams can play with us at that pace, so I’m just trying to force the issue in that regard.”
And share the ball? The Warriors are out-assisting the Blazers 97-66.
What’s even more pleasing to the eye, and a symptom of a new level of team focus, is that the Warriors are shedding their reputation as the league’s No. 1 complainers, who turn every foul call against them into a theatrical tantrum. It was a bad look, considering the team’s successful run and its wealth of superstar talent. What were they whining about?
The main offenders were Green, Kevin Durant and DeMarcus Cousins, who are firstteam All-Crybaby. Durant and Cousins, currently out with injuries, appeared to be have been fighting their tantrum impulses recently, and Green has been shamed out of his ref rage by his mom, his fiancée and his son.
This is bad news for those eager to see the two-time defending champion Warriors dethroned. That camp felt pretty good at the beginning of the playoffs, when many experts thought that the Warriors, at long last, were vulnerable, ripe for a fall. Something was not quite right with this team. Maybe it was all drama over Durant and his future. Maybe they had grown bored with their greatness, lost interest and edge. Maybe the rest of the league was simply catching up.
The Warriors fed that doomsday narrative in the first round, letting the overmatched underdog Los Angeles Clippers walk off with two wins. The Warriors struggled at times against the Houston Rockets, another six-game series. A far cry from two seasons ago, when the Warriors blitzed through the playoffs with a 16-1 record.
Now, suddenly, they seem to have shaken off the cobwebs and hit a nice stride. Granted, they’ve had to fight. The Warriors spotted the Blazers leads of 17 and 18 points the past two games before rallying. That’s not an ideal business model, but it makes for more compelling theater when they storm back.
They’re pulling all this off in the midst of one of the oddest situations in sports history. I can’t recall another team that lost a player widely considered to be the best at his sport and then got better.
The seemingly insane debate rages: Are the Warriors a better team without Durant?
The Warriors have to be enjoying their four-game run without Durant, showing the world they’re not a one-man team. But to a man, they say they want and need Durant back from his calf injury. Many experts say the Warriors will need Durant in order to win a Finals matchup against either the Toronto Raptors or Milwaukee Bucks.
If the Warriors make the Finals, that series will take on huge meaning for the team and the fans, because there is reason to believe this could be the end of the dream, of a halfdecade of dominance.
Durant will be a free agent and could leave after this season. There is a possibility that the Warriors would trade Green if they can’t sign him to a contract extension. Klay Thompson, though he has said he would like to be with the Warriors for life, could be lured away.
The greatest team in the world could get blown away like dandelion seeds.
The Warriors know they’re playing not for just another title, but for their legacy, for their pride and honor.
Head coach Steve Kerr encourages his team to live in the moment, and the Warriors’ moment is at hand.