Warriors plenty motivated to stay alive in hunt for title
OAKLAND, Calif. — Stephen Curry offered a long list of things motivating the Golden State Warriors to extend their season once more and keep alive the chase for a third straight championship.
Winning for injured teammate Kevin Durant certainly ranks No. 1 heading into Game 6 of the NBA Finals.
A victory in the last game at Oracle Arena is right up there, too.
“I don’t think much needs to be said about the motivation that we have or are going to have tomorrow,” Curry said Wednesday. “… To protect our home court, feed off our crowd’s energy, play for ‘K’ and try to keep our season alive. There are a lot of things that you can kind of tap into for energy tomorrow. We’ll be ready.”
Kawhi Leonard, Kyle Lowry and the Raptors are playing for Canada’s first NBA crown, not to mention the country’s first major title since the Toronto Blue Jays won the World Series in 1993.
Toronto lead the series 3-2 series and are 3-0 on the Warriors’ home floor this season.
“For some reason I think both teams are really good road teams and have been all season,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. “That’s one thing. Two, two really tough-minded teams playing and you’ve got to be a little more tough-minded on the road. And I think a lot of those games probably could have went either way.”
The Warriors might have to overcome being both emotionally and physically spent after watching twotime reigning Finals MVP Durant go down again.
Durant had returned from a monthlong absence with a strained right calf to start Game 5 only to rupture his right Achilles tendon in the second quarter.
The Warriors also lost reserve big man Kevon Looney as he re-aggravated a cartilage fracture in his right collarbone area.
Klay Thompson expects more energy than ever given the Warriors have recently gone through, not to mention all of the highs and lows during 47 seasons at Oracle.
“We’re just thinking about enjoying this last show at Oracle we’re about to give our fans. And I expect our fans to be the loudest they have ever been, especially in the name of Kevin and bringing his type of spirit he would bring to the fight and the competitiveness,” Thompson said. “I know our fans will do that because we deserve it, but more importantly Kevin does for what he gave this team, this organization. There wouldn’t be banners if it wasn’t for his presence.”
Splash Brothers Curry and Thompson will be looking to repeat their hot shooting from Game 5, when they combined to go 19for-44 and 12-for-27 from 3-point range.
“We don’t want to give up that many to those guys,” Nurse said. “I think you got to guard them, got to find them in transition. They get a good chunk of them in that.”