WARRIOR MENTALITY
G.S. VOWS NO LETDOWN AFTER EPIC GAME 6 WIN
Golden State’s sensational lastminute comeback in Oklahoma City courtesy of the spectacular Splash Brothers on Saturday night may go down as arguably the greatest moment in their history-making, 73-win campaign.
But only if genius backcourt assassins Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson finish off the kill job Monday in Game 7 at Oakland’s Oracle Arena against the reeling Thunder.
As giddy as the defending champs were after rallying from seven points down in the final five minutes to steal Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals behind Thompson’s 19 fourthquarter points, the Warriors were taking nothing for granted. A rematch against the Cavaliers in the NBA Finals is not yet a done deal.
“It doesn’t win us a ring,” Curry said of the 108-101 heist. “We’re not popping champagne right now. We’re excited about the opportunity to go home and have a Game 7. Everybody on both sides of the ball is going to leave it all out on the floor.”
If the Thunder drop Game 7 to complete a collapse from a 3-1 series stranglehold, Saturday will go down as the most crushing loss in the Thunder’s eight-year history in the Great Plains, especially if it hastens the departure of free agent Kevin Durant.
Thompson alone outscored the Thunder 19-18 in the fourth, splashing home a playoff-record 11 3-pointers.
“We really didn’t want this to be our last game,” Thompson said. “A lot of people probably counted us out.”
Now the Thunder are viewed as dead in the water. After his miserable outing Saturday, in which he shot 10-of-31 and made costly mistakes in the final three minutes, a somber-sounding Durant said: “We get another opportunity. We can’t hang our heads. It’s the seventh game of the series. We know exactly what they do. They know exactly what we do. It’s just a matter of who wants it more.”
At Sunday’s practice before flying to the Bay Area, Durant said his team was not dwelling on the Game 6 choke, when it was out-scored 19-5 to close out the game.
“We never let anything linger or bleed over into the next day,” Durant said. “If we walk in here like it’s a funeral, we’ve already lost. Nobody walked in like that. Guys walked in here [and] are really confident. We’re upset we lost, but we let that go, and we’ve got to get ready for Game 7.
“I think from the first to the 15th guy, we’ve got to enjoy this process because if you ask anybody coming into the season if you want one game to go to the NBA Finals, they’ll sign up for that. We’ve got to be excited for this opportunity.”
Warriors enforcer Draymond Green, who posted a double-double (14 points, 12 rebounds, six assists) Saturday despite getting dunked on hard by Thunder antagonist Steven Adams, is poised for one last 48-minute dogfight — even if the odds have shifted dramatically in the Warriors’ favor.
A statistic that warrants attention: Thirty-six teams have lost Game 6 at home while up 3-2. Just 12 of those 36 teams recovered emotionally to snatch Game 7.
“I am just excited to go back home for Game 7 because being in this situation, people would die for this,” Green said. “It will be the hardest game of our lives, way harder than this game, going back home. People think it’s done, but it will be way harder.”
It will be tough to match the obstacles the Warriors faced Saturday — an ear-splitting OKC crowd juiced by the Thunder controlling the entire game, leading by as many as 13 in the first half and eight entering the fourth.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr has played in three Games 7s, including one with the Bulls vs. the Knicks in 1994.
“Game 7s are fun,” Kerr said. “They’re pressure-packed, but I don’t think there could be any more pressure on us in Game 7 than there was [Saturday].”