Getting back to business
In their hands: Splash Brothers will be critical if Golden State is to force Game 7
They put the roar in Roaracle, they put the fear of god in opponents’ hearts, they revolutionized basketball, together they’ve gone to five NBA Finals in a row — and now the Splash Brothers are facing their greatest challenge.
If the Warriors are going to stave off elimination, and maybe extinction, the Splash Brothers are going to have to party like it’s 2016.
Or like it’s the last 21⁄2 minutes of Game 5 in Toronto on Monday night.
The Warriors were down 3-1 to the Raptors in the NBA Finals. They had lost Kevin Durant, and they trailed the Raptors by six points. Then ... Klay Thompson took a pass from Stephen Curry and buried a 3-pointer over the long reach of Kawhi Leonard . ... Curry came off a DeMarcus Cousins screen, took a pass from Andre Iguodala and sank a 3 . ... Curry, doubleteamed, passed to Iguodala, who zinged a pass to Draymond Green, who fired crosscourt to Thompson, who pump-faked Leonard into the air, paused, and drilled a 3. Splash, splash, splash.
Can they keep that magic alive?
Let’s face it: NBA defenses have caught up to the Splash Brothers. They’re still a devastating force of nature, but they are not the out-of-control duo they were at the height of their 3-point success in the 2015-16 season.
The only problem that season was that Curry was not fully healthy in the Finals (he had missed six games com
bined in the first two rounds of the playoffs) and the Warriors lost to the Cavaliers in seven games. But the unhappy ending (for the Warriors) aside, that was a breakthrough season for the Splash Brothers, the real beginning of the 3-point revolution.
The Brothers’ 3-point shot opportunities are increasingly fewer and their shooting windows increasingly tighter, and for sure that will be the case against the Raptors in Game 6 on Thursday at Oracle Arena, and in a possible Game 7 in Toronto.
Kevin Durant helped spread the floor and tax the defense and maximize 3-point opportunities for the Splash Brothers, but he’ll be watching the game from his hospital bed in New York.
The Brothers will have to return to the day when it was all about them.
In 2015-16, Steve Kerr had arrived the previous season, bringing with him a scheme to maximize the distance shooting skills of Curry and Thompson through constant ball movement and cutting.
Actually, the monster was set in motion under the previous head coach, Mark Jackson, who empowered the Brothers by outrageously proclaiming them the greatest shooting backcourt in NBA history.
With that vote of confidence, and Kerr’s offense, the Brothers took off. They made Kerr (and Jackson) look like a genius in 2014-15, but they really blossomed the next season. Curry hit a preposterous 402 3s in the regular season, shooting 45.4% from behind the arc. Thompson drilled 276 3s and shot 42.5%.
They’ve yet to reach those heights since then.
After the 2015-16 outburst (678 threes), the two dipped to 592 the next season, then 441. Even with a resurgence this season (595), they fell more than 80 shy of their highwater mark
However, nobody believes the Splash Brothers have been rendered obsolete.
In the five Finals games, Curry and Thompson have each made 20 3-pointers. Thompson, who missed Game 3 with a hamstring issue, has been super-efficient, 20-for-35, 57.1%. Curry in the first five games is 20-for-56 (35.7%).
Over the years, Curry has shifted his offensive emphasis toward driving to the hoop, and that has been the case in these Finals. Though Thompson has attempted six free throws, Curry has attempted 51 (and made 48).
The Splash Brothers will get their shots in Game 6. The questions are, how many shots, and how many makes? By now, the Raptors have shown pretty much every defensive wrinkle they’re likely to trot out, including the box-and-one on Curry.
What the Brothers will need, along with hot hands, is effective playmaking, especially from Draymond Green, big-time screen-setting by the bigs, and the type of crisp ball movement that has defined the Warriors of the Kerr Era.
They had all that rocking in Game 5, when the Warriors hit 20 3s, the most for them in any Finals game of their fiveyear run. They were 20-for-42 (47.6%) behind Curry (5-for-14) and Thompson (7-for-13).
Points are points, but the Warriors will want to ride the emotion of the fans who will be participating in the Warriors’ last game ever at Oracle, and nothing fires up the home fans like the Splash Brothers, separately or together, making it rain.
There is a sound unique to Oracle: When Curry or Thompson launches a 3, a collective gasp of anticipation rises from the fans, like they’re witnessing the first long shot ever attempted. The sound gets louder, like a jet plane taking off, as the shot arcs toward the hoop. Then, either a deflated “ahhhh,” or an explosion of joy that vibrates the old barn to its rivets.
They won’t need this arena after Thursday night. Might as well shake it down.