USA TODAY US Edition

WARRIORS ON THE BRINK

After record-setting regular season, defending champs crumbling against Thunder

- Sam Amick sramick@usatoday.com USA TODAY Sports

“The series isn’t over. We’ve got to believe in ourselves.”

The signs of stress were everywhere for the Golden State Warriors and their frazzled fans the last few days.

All the growing angst, this nightmare unfolding before them after a season of history-making harmony, wasn’t limited to the Chesapeake Arena court where the Oklahoma City Thunder dismantled the most dominant regular-season team in league history in Games 3 and 4 of the NBA Western Conference finals.

There was pressure building Sunday night at a hotel bar not far from the Thunder’s home, where a wayward Warriors fan was so enraged that TNT analyst Charles Barkley picked the Thunder to win the series that he challenged him to an actual fight. (Security was called, and the man was removed.)

It rose in the corner section where Joe Lacob sat, too, when the passionate Warriors owner grew so weary of one Thunder fan’s belligeren­t badgering during Game 3 that he just had to holler back at the burly fellow.

The morning after Game 4 took a more somber turn at Will Rogers World Airport, where relatives of Warriors players who had reveled in this 18-month joy ride left town with long faces amid the Thunder’s 3-1 series lead.

With Game 5 on Thursday at Oracle Arena and the Warriors facing a reality that only 3.8% of the 232 teams that have been in this position have ever survived (nine in all), the question of poise and mental state has never been more important. Yet the problem for the Warriors is that these two teams are on opposite ends of that spectrum.

It’s not just the fans, the owner and the family members who are cracking right now. It’s the Warriors themselves.

“We didn’t play very intelligen­tly,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said after Game 4. “Way too many turnovers (21 in all, including six apiece for Stephen Curry and Draymond Green), careless

Warriors guard Stephen Curry

passes. This is probably the longest team in the league that we’re facing, and we are continuing to try to throw passes over the top of their outstretch­ed arms. It’s probably not a great idea.”

Only the Warriors know what’s truly happening, whether the sixmonth push for 73 wins might have worn them out or if the hype that came from it is haunting them now. But this gritty Oklahoma City group has caused an identity crisis from which they might not recover. Their famed “Death Lineup” (Curry, Green, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala and Harrison Barnes) that was leading the way in the league’s small-ball revolution all season is now 6 feet under.

The Thunder, with first-year coach Billy Donovan on quite the masterful run, have answered with a small-ball lineup of their own that just might destroy everything the Warriors have worked for since their ascent be- gan in 2012. According to NBA.com/stats, when Russell Westbrook, Andre Roberson, Dion Waiters, Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka have shared the floor, the Thunder have a plus-minus rating of +49 that is the best for any lineup in this series (their second best is a +5).

The only way out for the Warriors is to take the very approach that has helped the Thunder get to this point.

On the drive out of the players parking lot that sits next to Chesapeake Arena, the ramp up to the nearest downtown street is aimed in such a way that you can’t help but read the Thunder billboard that sits across the street. “Day by day, every day.” That’s the Thunder way, the focused mentality that has helped them block out all the noise about Durant’s forthcomin­g free agency or the death of assistant coach Monty Williams’ wife or the laundry list of other obstacles they’ve endured in the last few seasons. As the saying goes, if you can’t beat ’em, steal their strategy. Or something like that.

Yet just as the Warriors tried so hard the last two games to obliterate double-digit deficits with home run-type plays that backfired, they can’t win three games all at once. They need to start with Game 5, in the friendly confines of Oracle Arena, where they won 39 of their 41 regular-season games and where a potential Game 7 would take place.

This was also the location of the quickly forgotten Game 2 on May 18, when they routed the Thunder 118-91 and Curry’s lessthan-perfect health wasn’t a topic of discussion when he was scoring 15 of his 28 points in a span of 118 third-quarter seconds. Strange as it is that the best shooter of all time has missed 16 of his 21 three-point attempts in the last two games, let’s not forget that this is the same back-to-back MVP who tagged the Portland Trail Blazers for 40 points in his May 9 return from his right knee injury. Curry is averaging 27.7 points (45.2% shooting overall, 37.1% from three-point range), 6.2 assists and six rebounds per game since he came back from the 15-day absence caused by his Grade 1 medial collateral ligament sprain.

Curry, who said May 17 that he knew the lingering pain in his knee wouldn’t completely disappear until the offseason arrived, simply said, “No, I’m fine,” when asked Tuesday night if he was still hampered by the injury.

Kerr has said consistent­ly that there are no restrictio­ns on Curry related to his condition, but they’ve been monitoring this situation.

“It’s been a roller coaster (for Steph),” Curry’s brother Seth said on USA TODAY Sports’ A to Z podcast. “Last year was the first time that I really saw what it took to get to the Finals and win a championsh­ip. That run they had was crazy just to witness it behind closed doors.

“The playoffs is another 21⁄ 2month season. Everybody’s hurt. It wasn’t really documented last year, but Steph was banged up throughout the playoffs like anybody was, and this year’s no different. You play so many games. The game is turned up a whole ’nother notch, so you’re going to get banged up. It’s a matter of who can play through certain injuries and the adjustment­s you make because of that.”

Win one game, though, and that pressure that has been causing them fits the last few days shifts to the other side.

“The series isn’t over,” Stephen Curry declared after Game 4. “We’ve got to believe in ourselves. There’s obviously frustratio­n, and it’s a terrible feeling once again not stepping up and being ourselves and playing our game. But I think we’re a special team that this isn’t how we’re going to go out.”

 ?? MARK D. SMITH, USA TODAY SPORTS ?? Stephen Curry has struggled, missing 16 of his 21 three-point attempts in the last two games.
MARK D. SMITH, USA TODAY SPORTS Stephen Curry has struggled, missing 16 of his 21 three-point attempts in the last two games.
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 ?? STEPHEN CURRY BY USA TODAY SPORTS ??
STEPHEN CURRY BY USA TODAY SPORTS

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