While everyone was going on and on about how the Warriors were already counted out during the Conference Finals when the Oklahoma City Thunder got themselves up to a 3-1 lead, I wrote an article titled, “Why The Warriors Shouldn’t Be Worried,” when the series was still 2-1. I wrote that the Warriors needed this challenge to remind themselves why they were so good in the first place – and I was right.
After shocking the world and coming back from a 3-1 deficit to beat OKC in seven games, they did something else that was wildly unexpected.
Game one of the Finals, facing the Cleveland Cavaliers, proved that the Warriors are so much more than their best and most popular players. Stars of the game were Shaun Livingston, who scored a career-high 20 points coming off the bench, and Andre Iguodala, who also came off the bench to score 12 points. Golden State’s dynamic duo and high scorers Steph Curry and Klay Thompson combined to score just 20 points, which once again exemplified the depth of their bench and under appreciated players. The slack that the rest of the team continues to pick up propels them further and further and got them to where they are now. The final score was 104-89 Warriors.
Game two was even more astonishing; the final score was 110-77 giving the Warriors a 2-0 lead, placing them in a good position to head to Cleveland. Historically, teams up 2-0 are 28-3 in the finals. The star of the game and highest scorer among both teams was Draymond Green, showing a different side of his dynamics and what he has to offer to this team. In the post-game interviews, there were jokes from Thompson and commentators that he was, “One of the Splash Brothers tonight.”
Lebron James had almost half of the teams’ 17 turnovers and 19 points. Curry and Thompson combined for 35 points.
After game two, the Warriors held the biggest point margin differential in history between the first two Finals games, beating the Cavs by a combined 48 points. Golden State has won seven straight games against the Cavs including regular season and last season’s finals series.
Game three will be on Wednesday, June 8, 2016, in Cleveland and game four will be on Friday, June 10, 2016, in Cleveland as well. The last three games switch off every game, (Oakland, Cleveland, Oakland).
Cleveland will definitely be a tougher challenge for the Warriors than having home court advantage was, but the way they are playing, along with the way the Cavs are playing gives Golden State immense momentum.
If Cleveland goes on a run in game three and gains momentum and confidence from their home crowd, this series may be pushed back to Oakland. If not, I think the Warriors have a very strong chance of sweeping Lebron and the Cavs, which would go along with the theme of Golden State’s playoff run – completely unpredicted.
