Per Basketball Reference, the Warriors have gone just 5-5 in the 10 games where they have turned the ball over 12 or more times in these playoffs. Golden State must be wary of complacency and it will be near the top of coach Steve Kerr’s clipboard on things to do in order to win another title.
If the Warriors have one Achilles heel, it has been their carelessness and inability to take care of the ball. After a grueling Western Conference Finals against the Houston Rockets, the Warriors are overwhelming favourites to secure their third title in four seasons. How the Warriors repeatĪccording to many experts, these NBA Finals are Golden State’s to lose. The new Warriors’ star settled into his second NBA Finals with aplomb, averaging 35.2 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 5.4 assists on a whopping 56 percent from the field as Golden State took just five games to recapture the NBA title. However, as the Finals began, it became apparent that the Warriors with Durant would be too powerful even for the defending champions, despite otherworldly performances from James and Irving. Irving himself told reporters prior to the season that had he not been hurt, the outcome would have been different.Īll the chatter about their title being fraudulent proved to be just the right fuel to get the Warriors firing for their title defence. There is a famous saying ‘familiarity breeds contempt’, and the second part of the Cavs-Warriors saga certainly proved that statement to be true.įollowing the 2015 Finals, many around the league had believed that the Warriors had benefited from the injuries to Love and Irving, calling their title tainted. James’ heroics would not be enough as the Warriors, on the back of their newly crowned MVP Curry, were able to win their first title in 40 years, ousting the Cavaliers in six games. What ensued was James taking on one of the most unprecedented loads in NBA history, as he masterfully controlled every facet of the game en-route to averaging a staggering 35.8 points, 13.3 rebounds and 8.8 assists. Irving's injury left James to fend off the 67-win Warriors all by himself. It was in overtime, where tragedy occurred for the Cavaliers, as Irving bumped knees with Klay Thompson, resulting in a fractured kneecap. Curry’s team had just been bounced out of the first round of the Playoffs by the Clippers and had more of an aura of a young and fun team as opposed to legitimate contender. Meanwhile, the Warriors had just fired their head coach, Mark Jackson, and frankly weren’t on the radar as NBA Championship contenders. The Los Angeles Clippers somehow always found a way to shoot themselves in the foot. The Oklahoma City Thunder were around, but James had a lofty head-to-head record against Kevin Durant. The San Antonio Spurs, the team that had just taken down James’ Miami Heat were ageing. When LeBron James announced he was going back to Cleveland in the summer of 2014, he likely panned around the NBA and saw a clear path to contention for a number of years. With Game 1 set to take place at 11am AEST Friday, we take a look at how the rivalry has grown since the 2014-15 season. Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala, and Shaun Livingston for the Warriors.
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