Warriors have their mojo back

The NBA playoffs are here. The games are tighter, the lights are brighter, and the narratives are getting thick. It can be a lot to keep up with but don’t worry we’re here to help. Throughout the NBA postseason, FanSided will be gathering together some of the most talented writers from our network for a daily recap of our favorite stories from the night before.

Welcome to The Rotation.

Warriors. Warriors. Warriors.

Ian Levy | @HickoryHigh | FanSided

And just like that, it was over.

All those questions — about what happened to the Warriors, about what happens to their 73-win legacy if they lose, about whether Stephen Curry was hurt, Draymond Green was unstable, whether Steve Kerr could coach his way out of Billy Donovan’s wet paper bag — gone in a puff of smoke. Or, more accurately, incinerated by a lightning bolt from the finger tips of Stephen Curry. Just before the first of his four three-pointers in the final six minutes of the first half, if you watch the tape closely enough, you can see Klay Thompson lean over and whisper, “psych” in Kevin Durant’s ear.

The mojo is back and the Warriors apparently learned nothing from their early struggles in this series. If this isn’t the ultimate manifestation of confidence, I don’t know what is. The Warriors were gone — dangling from the window sill, held up by fingernails and a stiff updraft. No worries. They. Just. Kept. Firing. Until they math finally broke in their favor, until the results matched the swagger.

Whoever you think would a win a hypothetical nonsense game between the Warriors and the 72-win Chicago Bulls, these Warriors have something unique, a confidence those Bulls couldn’t touch. The Bulls trusted in their ability to work harder than anyone else when it mattered most, to grind out wins regardless of the situation. The Warriors believe in their ability to blow your damn house down, to bury you in the rubble of turnovers and back-breaking three-pointers. Next up, a scheduled demolition project in Cleveland.

Any doubts about the Warriors belong to us, not them.

Sibling rivalry

Todd Whitehead | @CrumpledJumper | Nylon Calculus

Golden State Warrior, Stephen Curry, is now the undisputed “best shooter alive”. Well, it’s almost undisputed. There is perhaps one other human who can at least occasionally stake a claim to that title, Curry’s backcourt mate and Splash Brother, Klay Thompson. Last year, Curry set the single season playoff record for three-pointers made.

Stephen Curry’s three-pointers during the 2015 NBA Playoffs

Curry hit at least one three in each of his 2015 postseason games, because, well, he always does that. He averaged 4.7 threes made on 11.0 attempts per night (42 percent) for a record-setting total of 98 threes over 21 games. His best night by volume was an 8-for-13 performance to help close out the Memphis Grizzlies in Game 6 of the Western Conference Semifinals. His most efficient night was a 7-for-9 (78 percent) outing in a blowout win over the Houston Rockets in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals. Curry’s worst night was his 2-for-15 (13 percent) nightmare during the Warriors’ Game 2 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Finals.

This postseason, with Curry limited by injuries, Klay Thompson has shouldered a heavier scoring burden for the Warriors. He’s averaged 4.5 threes on 10.1 attempts per game (45 percent) for a total of 77 threes thru 17 playoff games. That’s exactly the same pace Curry set in the first 17 games of the 2015 playoffs. Thompson’s most efficient game was a 6-for-9 (67 percent) mark that he posted in the Warrior’s close-out win over the Portland Trail Blazers in Game 5 of the Western Conference Semifinals. Thompson’s biggest three-point outburst was Game 6 against the Oklahoma City Thunder, when his 11-for-18 shooting from deep saved the Warriors season from the brink of elimination. Thompson poured in six more triples in Game 7 on Monday night.

Klay Thompson’s Three-pointers during the 2016 NBA Playoffs

If Thompson can sustain his current pace, he will add another 22 three-pointers during the first five games of the Finals, eclipsing Curry’s record of 98 by one.

Winners and losers

Derek James | @DerekJamesNBA | Hardwood Paroxysm

The Oklahoma City Thunder were right on the brink of another Finals berth when they held a 3-1 series lead over the Golden State Warriors. Against any other team, the Thunder would have been favored to close it out. The Warriors are a 73-win team and the defending champs, yet the Thunder seem to be faulted for being unable to win the series.

In Game 6, the Thunder led by 11 at most. Much of the game was spent as a two possession affair with neither team able to pull away. Against the winningest team in history, it’s not like Oklahoma City was favored. Had Steph Curry not rediscovered his swagger late or Andre Iguodala made those steals, we may be talking about this series differently.

Essentially, the Warriors did to the Thunder in the fourth quarter what they did to them in the first three. Sure, Kevin Durant and the Thunder played tense but they still had a chance late.

Great teams are capable of winning games rather than someone always having to give a game away. In Games 5-7, the Warriors took this series back.

Entering the second half trailing 48-42, the Warriors became a math problem. By successfully taking away the Thunder’s three-point shot and forcing them into contested layups, Curry and Co. were simultaneously hitting three-pointers. The Thunder were 0-for-7 in the third to the Warriors’ 6-for-12. And when Oklahoma City responded hitting 4-of-9 3’s in the final quarter, Golden State went 4-for-9 themselves.

The Warriors also managed to take away Durant’s support. While Durant finished with 27 points, seven rebounds and three assists on 10-for-19 shooting, his teammates shot 34.2 percent from the field. Durant wasn’t pressing as he seemed to be in Game 6 and that worked to get his teammates going early. However, once the Warriors began daring Andre Roberson, Dion Waiters, and Serge Ibaka to shoot, the momentum shifted. Durant’s 7-0 run late in the fourth quarter made it interesting but their third quarter put themselves too far behind.

Teams can choke but that’s not always the case. Given the Thunder’s season-long issues of closing games it’s an easy thing to say. Other times, it’s alright to give credit rather than defaulting towards shaming a team for losing to a historically great team. The Thunder put the Warriors in a hole but it was up to the defending champions to dig themselves out.

A brief moment of hero ball ends the Thunder

Philip Rossman-Reich | @omagicdaily | Hardwood Paroxysm, Orlando Magic Daily

The narrative is tired.

Charles Barkley shouting from a TV screen that Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook were trying to play hero ball too much or wondering whether Oklahoma City will “revert” to their “hero ball” ways. Shaquille O’Neal was saying it is about the “others” and trusting the “others.”

The perception, and perhaps it is somewhat reality, is Oklahoma City’s star players, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, try to do everything on their own. The passing stops and these two supremely talented players go one on one trying to win it on their own. They are good enough most nights to do that.

It is tired though. This is who they are. Durant and Westbrook are two of the best individual scorers in the league. Even in inefficient situations, Durant and Westbrook making decisions with the ball is typically better than anything else. They are the horses that got the Thunder up 3-1 and to a Game Seven in the Western Conference Finals.

Yet. . . Yet . . . It may have all been right.

This is a Game 7. This is the game where every single moment gets put under the microscope. When two teams of this caliber go up against each other, even a momentary slip can be enough to turn the tide. And, in this case, end the series.

This was a series about trust. This was a series about withstanding punches and punching back. This was a series about having the resolve to face down history and frustrate one of the greatest teams in NBA history. And for four games, and for much of the final three, Oklahoma City did that.

In the third quarter though, Golden State began the avalanche. The three-pointers started to fall. Oklahoma City’s lead began to disintegrate.

This is where the Thunder’s response, resolve and composure would be measured. Would they revert to that style the critics nag them about? Would they crumble?

As the Warriors began to zoom ahead and take control of the game, the Thunder did revert to that style. They did crumble. The resolve was not there.

Kevin Durant drove into the lane or took a jumper early in the shot clock that missed. Maybe if one had gone down, Oklahoma City could have stemmed the tide. That little bit of confidence coming from the team’s best player to staunch the bleeding.

That is not what happened though. The Thunder kept digging themselves a deeper hole. Durant or Westbrook unable to dish the ball to the perimeter or get others involved. They put their head down and went after the rim.

The Warriors had these moments too, didn’t they?

Golden State though found the confidence and trust in their system an in each other to come back. Even as they fell behind by double digits again in the first half, they kept moving the ball and finding the open man. Their star players began hitting shots — Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson beginning to rain threes in the third quarter — and that was that.

It was the moments when the team was at its lowest and how they fought their way out that decided Game 7.

Golden State found a way to get good shots and get everyone involved, sprinkling in the star power. Oklahoma City only had its star power. And Durant and Westbrook were not making shots. They could not shoulder this load for their team.

And in a season that comes down to a single 48-minute game, that brief moment where a team loses trust in its process can determine everything.