The Golden State Warriors have been so good over the last two decades, that you had to believe they always had a chance, no matter who they faced. In fact, the Warriors were 19-0 in playoffs series in the Western Conference under Steve Kerr.
That's what you get when you have the greatest shooter in NBA history in Steph Curry and a front office that has willingly built around his skills. Just process the revolving door of role players (plus Kevin Durant) that Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green have had over the years. They began the dynasty with guys like Andrew Bogut and Harrison Barnes. They won the championship last season with Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins playing big minutes.
It’s tough to continually adapt over the seasons to your franchise players’ needs. The Warriors lost a few bench players from last season, but they brought back their top eight players this season. Add to that the optimism that lottery picks like James Wiseman, Moses Moody, and Jonathan Kuminga bring, and the Warriors looked like they were about to cook in the West again.
But Golden State got hit hard and early. They started losing games on the road constantly. Poole was inconsistent from the jump. The young players just could not fit right away. They tried to adjust at the trade deadline, cutting bait with former second overall pick Wiseman and shipping him out to essentially re-acquire Gary Payton II. But the hits kept on rolling with Wiggins missing the final few months of the season due to personal issues.
The Warriors were still good enough to enter the playoffs, thanks to another great season from Curry and a solid home record (33-8). But they were just the sixth seed as they went 11-30 on the road. Their series against the third-seeded Sacramento Kings was a classic. The Kings took it to the Warriors, even leading the series 3-2. But like in the regular season, Curry was enough to save the Warriors from collapse.
After a legendary 50-point Game 7 performance from Curry, the Warriors walked into their series against the Lakers as favorites. The Lakers had a solid lineup, but did they have enough to stop the Warriors’ offense?
It turns out, they had more than enough. Los Angeles pulled a page from the Warriors and took Game 1 of the series on the road. The Lakers then went on to sweep all their home games, winning a crucial Game 4 slobber-knocker.
When the series turned to Game 6, Warriors fans were still confident. This team had pulled off bigger miracles. The corgi was on their side. The game, however, became a microcosm of the Warriors season. Their defense was porous and their offense was streaky. Curry dropped 31 points, but everyone else bricked. Thompson had eight points. Poole and Wiggins each had seven.
With their season on the line and facing their franchise’s biggest boogeyman in LeBron James, that was not going to cut it. The vigor of the Warriors defense last season was not present in this postseason. The Lakers constantly got all the matchups they wanted and consequently blew out the Warriors twice in this series.
This matchup with James this postseason could be the best consolation for Warriors fans, because it could very well be the last. The Lakers themselves have plenty of tough decisions to make with their roster after this season, but so do the Warriors.
Curry is entering his age-36 season. Green and Thompson both turn 34 next season and both have tricky contract situations. Green could opt out this offseason while Thompson is eligible for an extension. But given how much the new Collective Bargaining Agreement punishes teams in the luxury tax, it's going to be tough to retain both this pillars. Do the Warriors trade away Wiggins or Poole, both of whom received hefty extensions in the past two offseasons? Or is it even worth it to keep this band together? This series loss just propelled one of the most interesting arcs in the Warriors’ lightyears ahead era.
