Aches and pains pale compared to joy of winning
MEMPHIS — Small forward Harrison Barnes sat with his feet in a tub of cold water, power forward Draymond Green had bags of ice wrapped from his ankles to his knees, and center Andrew Bogut looked as if he was straining to raise his arms to put on a shirt.
The Warriors’ postgame locker room Friday night resembled a MASH unit, but the players were all smiles because they had won their intensely physical Western Conference semifinal series against the Grizzlies and earned a couple of days off before starting the West finals.
“They had to sacrifice their bodies every night,” point guard Stephen Curry said of the Warriors’ front line, which consistently pounded with 7-foot-1, 255-pound Marc Gasol and 6-9, 260-pound Zach Randolph during the six-game series. “Whether they were undersized or not, they showed up, and you can’t say enough about their presence” on defense.
Had the Warriors lost Game 6 at the “Grindhouse,” they would have flown back to the Bay Area, landed at about 4 a.m. Saturday and played Game 7 at 12:30 p.m. Sunday. Instead, they took Saturday off, will get together Sunday to watch Game 7 of the other West semifinal between the Clippers and Rockets, and then host the winner at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Game 1.
“What’s nice is to have a few days before the next series starts,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said. “As I’ve said all year, ‘You have to enjoy this as you go. Each step, you have to sit back and reflect a little bit.’ We’ve got a couple of days to do so.”
The Warriors went 4-0 against Houston this season, winning by an average of 15.3 points per game, but Rockets center Dwight Howard missed two of the meetings. The Warriors went 3-1 against the Clippers this season, with an average point difference of plus-3.8.
The Warriors have to feel pretty good about facing either opponent in the West finals after overcoming their first major adversity of the season and responding with three consecutive wins against the Grizzlies.
They held Memphis to fewer than 100 points in each game of the series. That marked the first time they’ve accomplished the feat since 1958, when the franchise was located in Philadelphia. In each of the final three games of the series, the Warriors limited the Grizzlies to less than 40 percent shooting, the longest postseason streak for the franchise since the Warriors did it to Chicago in 1975.
“We’re not just happy to be here,” Bogut said. “We’re here to win a championship. We’re only halfway there.”
Warriors reserve guard Leandro Barbosa is the only player on the roster who has played in a conference final. Having done it with Phoenix in 2006 and 2010, he knows how difficult it is to advance this far in the playoffs, and he made the rounds in Friday’s postgame locker room, congratulating his teammates.
“We deserve to celebrate, but come Sunday, we’re going to get right back to work,” shooting guard Klay Thompson said. “We really want to hoist that Larry O’Brien” Trophy.
Said backup point guard Shaun Livingston: “This is the furthest I’ve ever been, but I’m still hungry. We’re all still hungry.”