Warriors lean on history in NBA Finals
BOSTON — Stephen Curry and the Warriors have been within a game of clinching a
championship in three of Golden State’s
previous five trips to the NBA Finals during his 13-year NBA career.
Back again and with a 3-2 series lead on the Celtics, Curry says
he’ll lean on that experience when he takes the court at Boston’s TD Garden on Thursday night.
“You just understand what the nerves are like,” Curry said. “At the end of the day,
once you get out there, you just have to be in the moment. You got to be present as much as possible, not worry about the consequences of a win or a loss. The only opportunity you have is that 48 minutes.”
The Warriors’ core of Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green is still around from the 2015 championship run. They’re on the verge of cap
turing their fourth title in eight seasons with new additions to the floor — like Andrew Wiggins and Jordan Poole — who
have never been in this position.
Curry’s advice to them: Lie to yourself a little bit.
“The more you can trick your mind into
being in the moment
and staying there, that’s the best advice I
can give anybody in that situation,” he said. “Because it’s going to
be the hardest game you probably ever played in your career because of what the stakes are.”
The stakes will be equally high for the Celtics, who let the
turnover demons that
have haunted them at times throughout the
postseason prevent them from seizing a
commanding 3-1 series lead.
Boston limited Curry to his lowest scoring output of the finals in Game 5, but couldn’t overcome 18 turnovers. The Celtics
dropped to 1-7 this postseason when
committing 16 turnovers or more — and lost consecutive games for the first
time since the end of March.
But they have a chance to force Game 7 — and the chance is
coming at the Garden, where they are 6-5 in the playoffs.
The mood at the close of Wednesday’s
practice session was loose, with players
smiling and joking while getting up some shots. Celtics star Jayson Tatum said the optimism comes from the team’s extremely recent playoff history.
Boston’s path to the finals has included
Game 7 victories over Milwaukee in the second round and Miami in the conference finals. The Celtics entered the finals as only the 12th team in league history to win
back-to-back Game 7s in the preceding rounds.
“In those moments, we just responded. I
don’t know exactly what it is, but I think
just our will to want to win, just trying to figure it out,” Tatum
said. “I think my thought process, as it was in that game,
Game 7 against the Heat, it was just do whatever it takes to win.”
That, and reminding