The Golden State Warriors enter this year’s NBA Playoffs as the overwhelming title favorites. They are finishing up a season that saw them win 67-plus games for the third consecutive time.
They boast two-time reigning NBA MVP Stephen Curry as well as former MVP and four-time scoring champion Kevin Durant. Let us also not forget about fellow All-Stars Draymond Green and Klay Thompson.
Though, most of the talk surrounding the Warriors this season has been “boom or bust.” They must win the title in order to prove skeptics wrong. They must do so in order to overcome the meltdown that saw them blow a 3-1 series lead to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals.
Should that not happen, this will go down as a disappointing season for one of the best groups of NBA players in the history of the Association.
In looking forward to the upcoming playoffs, Curry also took time to reflect on the failure of last year’s attempted run at back-to-back championships.
“It’s hard to not think about anything but the Finals,” Curry said, via ESPN’s The Undefated. “It was such a powerful moment just realizing you’re so close to getting it done.”
For Curry personally, last year’s Finals were a downright failure. The two-time MVP shot just 37 percent in the final three games of the series, turning the ball over a combined 12 times in the process. It acted as fodder for those who believed the star guard was indeed overrated.
Though, the sharpshooter is pretty happy about how his team has responded to said adversity.
“For us, we’ve done a really good job of turning the page and just focusing on this year to prepare ourselves, knowing what it takes, having won one and having come up short on one, Curry continued. “Nothing is guaranteed. Just how important every possession is. How important is your mentality going into the playoffs? It doesn’t matter what you’ve done in the regular games. It’s all defined in these next 2 1/2 months.”
Curry heads into the playoffs on a hot streak. The soon-to-be free agent averaged 30.2 points while shooting 55 percent from three-point range in the Warriors’ final five regular season games. For its part, Golden State ended the regular year having won 15 of 16 games.
The two-time defending Western Conference champions open up the playoffs at home against the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday.