Warriors' playoff series win streak against West foes at stake ahead of Game 5
Turnovers and empty chances have the Warriors one more loss away from elimination.
SAN FRANCISCO — One more loss, and a streak ends. One more loss, and a lengthy stretch of dominance disappears.
Another loss by the Golden Stae Warriors in this series with the Los Angeles Lakers and their chokehold on the Western Conference is instantly released. One of the more impressive, if somewhat obscure, accomplishments by the Warriors over their epic run with Steve Kerr as coach is The Undefeated Roll. They’ve played 19 playoff series in the Western Conference with Kerr and it’s 19-0 … and counting?
Well, that largely depends on whether the Warriors can peel off another streak — as in winning these next three games against LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Anything less, and it’s curtains not only for the defending champions this season but for their unfettered dominance of the West.
Comprehend this for a moment: Luka Doncic, James Harden, Paul George, Russell Westbrook, Damian Lillard … all of them and more have been denied by the Golden State dynasty since the spring of 2015. The Warriors were denied trips to the NBA Finals only twice in that span — the two injury-plagued seasons (2019-20 and 2020-21) they failed to make the playoffs.
It all seems so tenuous now with the Lakers up 3-1 heading into Wednesday’s Game 5 (10 p.m. ET, TNT). James seems focused on a fifth ring and Davis is punishing the Warriors at both ends of the floor. All while Golden State’s Klay Thompson is stuck in a shooting slump … and let’s not get started on whatever is bedeviling Jordan Poole.
“We just got outplayed,” Kerr said. “The Lakers did a great job of holding serve here. You go home, take care of business, get a win, and the momentum is right back in your favor.”
If the Warriors are teetering on the edge, well, they’ve been in this situation before. Or have you forgotten their most dramatic playoff series to date? That was the 2016 West finals, made famous by “the Klay Game,” “the Comeback” and, ultimately, the breakup of their most serious threat then (the Oklahoma City Thunder).
“We made history before,” Thompson said.
Here’s a refresher: Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook ambushed the No. 1-seeded Warriors with a 25-point win in that 2016 series-opener, then used a 24-point romp to take a 3-1 series lead. Then Thompson delivered his signature moment with 41 points (with 11 3-pointers, a playoff record) in Game 6 at OKC which tied the series and completely flipped the tenor. They took Game 7 and the defeat was doubly crushing for the Thunder — they also lost Durant that summer when he bailed in free agency to join the Warriors.
Thompson is certainly due to revisit that performance in this series, coming off a virtual no-show in Game 4 filled with misfires and only nine points.
Also, the Warriors had more dependable reserves then: Andre Iguodala (currently injured and old), Shaun Livingston and Leandro Barbosa (both of whom are retired). Right now? Their most qualified support player, Poole, just went scoreless in Game 4, can’t shake his demons and is unreliable and unplayable.
“It’s no sense in isolating him,” Curry said. “It’s about collectively what can we all do to be better? He’s a part of that, we’re all a part of that.”
The Warriors had a few other close calls, most recently two weeks ago when they survived a seventh game in Sacramento, in which they needed a 50-piece from Curry to advance. The only other seven-game series in their run was against the Rockets in the 2018 West finals, where the Warriors were helped by Houston going subzero from deep, missing 27 straight 3-pointers in the decisive game.
If the end to their West dominance is near, there are enough clues to suggest as much. This certainly isn’t one of the Warriors’ better teams, even though the franchise is 12 months removed from a championship. Actually, even that team, which beat the Nuggets, Grizzlies and Mavericks to reach the NBA Finals, was classified by Kerr as the weakest Warriors championship team.
Most of Stephen Curry's damage — points and assists alike — has come inside the arc, and that suits L.A. just fine.
These Warriors are vulnerable because of the regression of Poole, their lack of size (especially to compete against Davis) and inconsistency from Thompson. The Warriors, therefore, have no choice but to ask more from role players such as Moses Moody, JaMychal Green, Gary Payton II and Donte DiVincenzo — all of whom can only do so much.
A case can be made that the Warriors’ strategy of trying to blend young players into a championship core is finally starting to backfire. This didn’t hamper them last season mainly because Curry was epic during the Finals against the Celtics, and Andrew Wiggins put Jayson Tatum on lock.
All told, the core of this team is a season older while the young players aren’t a year better. A few seasons ago, armed with lottery picks as a result of missing the playoffs two straight years, the Warriors chose to keep those picks instead of trading them for established help. Not only did they, in hindsight, bypass better Draft selections (LaMelo Ball, Franz Wagner), they traded former No. 2 overall pick James Wiseman at this season’s trade deadline after two seasons, his slow growth failing to match the team’s timeline.
So this is where they are: one loss from elimination and one loss from yielding the West to someone else. Only 13 times has a team rallied from 3-1 down, but the Warriors can count themselves as one of them.
“It’s fun to reflect on the past and learn from it and take that same competitive energy that brought us back in the past to today,” Thompson said.
The last time the Warriors lost a West playoff series was 2013-14, the year before Kerr arrived. That was to the Clippers and a where-are-they-now roll call of participants: Chris Paul is with the Suns, Blake Griffin is on the bench with the Celtics, Doc Rivers is coaching the Sixers, DeAndre Jordan is backing up in Denver … and all could advance in these playoffs while the Warriors go home.
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Shaun Powell has covered the NBA for more than 25 years. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on Twitter.
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