Final run?
The Warriors (and Raptors) could have different looks after their NBA title matchup.
LOS ANGELES – There are four ways this Warriors’ dynasty might be defined in the NBA record books, and the coming days and weeks will reveal the answer.
❚ It ends with a glorious bang and a fourth title in five years.
❚ It implodes in a heap thanks to the Raptors, free agency and retirement.
❚ It defies logic and continues for a few more years.
❚ It already ended, with the 2018 championship.
Though the Warriors have taken on the NBA Finals’ challenge of tackling the Raptors on their latest rival’s home floor, splitting the first two games, there was still a case to be made for each of the above scenarios.
Most people talk about the Warriors’ glut of recent glory as if it is poised to conclude the moment the final buzzer sounds on the season, a thought process based on several key factors.
That Kevin Durant will leave Golden State in free agency this summer seems certain, and that his destination will be the Knicks appears most likely. AllStar Klay Thompson will simultaneously head toward the open market with his intentions unclear; Andre Iguodala, perhaps the league’s best sixth man, is hinting at retirement at 35; DeMarcus Cousins’ pit stop was never likely to stretch more than one year; defensive juggernaut Draymond Green is looking for a payday that might not mesh with upper management’s intentions.
Completing a title triumph against the Raptors may have to be done without the services of Durant as he continues to recuperate his troublesome right calf. He didn’t play in Games 1 or 2, and coach Steve Kerr has said the timetable for his possible return is wait-and-see.
If the Warriors win without Durant, it might be the most impressive collection of NBA titles — three in a row and four in five years — given the obstacles they have faced.
Not that the Warriors are dwelling too much on those difficulties, or on what comes next.
“It would be nice if everyone could pay more attention to pick-and-roll coverage,” Kerr said earlier this season. “But gossip is more interesting sometimes.”
In Game 2, Thompson suffered hamstring tightness and Kevon Looney, a key reserve, bruised his chest. But in a 109104 victory, the Warriors found a way to reduce the alarm. The trio of Shaun Livingston, Andrew Bogut and Quinn Cook scored 12 of the Warriors’ last 17 points, while starter Andre Iguodala hit a game-clinching 3pointer in the final seconds.
“Well, that’s what it takes,” Kerr said. “You need your bench, no matter what, but in particular when you’ve got a lot of injuries. So we’ll just continue to go to those guys and trust them, and they have proven that they can really help us.”
Toronto has provided a challenge fresh and different from any the Warriors have faced before, certainly during this postseason, led by an inspired Kawhi Leonard and backed by the ferocious roar of the Raptors’ national support.
In Game 1, a 118-109 Raptors victory, Pascal Siakam, the leading candidate for Most Improved Player this season, scored 14 of his playoff careerhigh 32 points in the third quarter, and during a stretch in the middle of the game, Siakam made 11 consecutive shots. He finished 14 of 17 from the field and also had eight rebounds, five assists and two blocks. He provided the X factor the Raptors needed.
“The biggest thing for me was our transition defense was just awful and that’s the game, that’s the No. 1 priority when you play Toronto: you have to take care of their transition,” Kerr said.
A parting gift of defeat, followed by the breakup of a super team, is not how anyone at Golden State wants to imagine this ride ending. While the eyes stay firmly on the prize, there is a sense of pride in maintaining a level of excellence for so long.
“It is just a special time to be a Warrior,” Thompson said.
But what if talk of the Warriors’ dominance in the past tense already is premature?
Durant hasn’t said anything publicly about which uniform he will be donning next season, and it is merely assumed he wants out.
Thompson likes playing for this team as much as the Bay Area support base loves him, and the Warriors are at the very least a leading contender for his signature.
Stephen Curry is going nowhere, and Green’s deal won’t expire until the end of next year.
The season before Durant arrived the Warriors won 73 games, the year before that they won the first title of the current run.
Iguodala is a competitor whose defense is highly valued within the organization and squeezing another year out of him might well be viable.
Though it appears next year’s roster will at least be partly diminished, the Warriors have been so far ahead of the pack that it might not make a world of difference. Despite all of the noises Golden State players have made about missing Durant during his injury layoff, the team is 7-1 since he went down entering NBA Finals game 3.
The final question is about how much of a dynasty it has truly been. Is it a really, really good one, or one of the best ever? No team had made five straight Finals since the 1960s Celtics, until Golden State punched its ticket by sweeping the Trail Blazers.
The last team to win three straight was the Lakers, from 2000 to 2002. Four out of five? Not since 1969 — the Celtics again.
Yet if the Warriors finally come unstuck against Toronto, then history likely will regard the end of the dynasty as being last year, even with the same personnel in place this time around. When you’re comparing greats to greats, nearmisses don’t count.
If it’s a tough assessment, it’s merely the standard they have set for themselves. And forget about any notion that because the Warriors might be coming toward the end of their current incarnation there is a corresponding loss of hunger. Quite the opposite.
“We know that these runs don’t last forever,” Green said. “Obviously there are so many questions about things that can possibly happen with this team in the summer. We are going to try to take advantage of this opportunity and make the most of it.”