The Golden State Warriors were trailing the Western Conference Finals 3 games to 1 less than a week ago. Everybody had written them off as chokers, for holding the best regular season record in NBA history and simply not getting it done in the postseason. Except there was one hole in all these critics assumptions. The series is a best of seven, and the 73-9 Warriors were not done yet. Not done then and not done now. They have officially climbed back into this series and won Game 7 to advance to their second straight NBA Finals.
The game itself was one that will stay in peoples memory for a long time. The Warriors won 96-88, on their home court, behind Steph Curry’s 36 points and 8 assists. Early on, the Thunder outplayed the Warriors, and Klay Thompson was missing good shots. Oklahoma blew the game open and held a 13 point lead early on in the second quarter. Then, Klay hit his first three pointer of the game, and continued to make his next three attempts from behind the arc, giving him 12 points in the second quarter and leading the charge to cut the lead to 6 at halftime.
In the second half, the Warriors went on a tear. Steph Curry was getting breathing room behind the arc by forcing the Thunder to switch on picks. This left Curry with players like Steven Adams and Serge Ibaka on him. These bigger guys are not bad defenders, but Curry is quick enough where he can dance around the three point line dribbling and easily create space to jack up a three pointer. This and the combination of Golden State’s ball movement as well as Oklahoma City’s inability to score gave the Warriors an 11 point lead going into the fourth behind a score of 29-12 in the third quarter.
When the game got to the fourth, the Warriors were able to keep Oklahoma from getting any chance of coming back into the game. The game stayed around double digits, until about 3 minutes left where the Warriors were up 11, and Kevin Durant responded with 7 straight points to cut the deficit to 4. On the ensuing Golden State possession, Steph Curry got fouled on a three point attempt and made all three free throws. This killed Oklahoma’s momentum, and then less than a minute later, Curry nailed a dagger from deep to bring the lead back up to 10.
Last year, the NBA Finals left fans wondering what would have happened had the Cleveland Cavaliers been healthy. Now, the fans will find out. It is the rematch that everybody wanted, and will be excited to see how it plays out.
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