Having appeared in each of the last three NBA Finals (winning two of them), it’s fair to wonder if some of the urgency might be lost from the Golden State Warriors heading into the Western Conference Finals. But that’s not a concern for coach Steve Kerr.
Kerr was asked if he felt that the Houston Rockets’ lack of recent championship success might give them more of an edge in the series. He dismissed that notion and also noted that in his mind, the recent championship success is a good thing.
Steve Kerr asked about the Rockets title hunger compared to the Warriors, who have two, so maybe not as much hunger: "I like where we are. Our guys have rings. That's a good position to be in." pic.twitter.com/ggzSS6GZhZ
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) May 10, 2018
“To me, the hardest championship is the first one. As an individual player, or as a team. You don’t know, quite know, if you can do it. Once you get the first one, there’s a little bit of house money. But you want it again,” Kerr said. “Because it’s an unbelievable feeling. So, I like our position. We’re going to go in here knowing we’re the defending champs. Knowing we’ve got a couple of championships here in these last few years. Let’s go get another one. It’s a nice feeling to have and to go into a series with.”
Experience isn’t always a deciding factor.
When the Warriors won the title in 2015, none of their players had any experience in a championship series. On the other hand, they were the first such champion since the 1991 Chicago Bulls.
So, while the trend can be broken, history says that having a team loaded with Finals experience is certainly an edge.