Are The Golden State Warriors In Trouble?
After falling behind 2-1 in the 2016 Western Conference Finals, should we be worried about the Golden State Warriors?
All season long, the Golden State Warriors have unquestionably been the best team in the NBA. Coming off a 73-win season that marked them as the winningest group in NBA history, you could even make they case they’re the best team the league has ever seen.
But that regular season success will feel hollow if there isn’t a championship attached at the end, and following a 28-point beating at the hands of the Oklahoma City Thunder Sunday night, the Dubs are suddenly in danger of falling short of a destiny that felt preordained heading into the series.
In Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals, a talented and athletic Thunder team reminded the world of how unstoppable it can be when both Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are healthy.
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Loud City was back in full force as OKC steamrolled the Dubs 133-105, taking a 2-1 lead in the series by courtesy of a game that was over before the third quarter even ended. Durant dropped 33 points on 15 shots, Westbrook finished with a 30-12-8 stat line and the Warriors were outscored 29-13 in transition.
With Game 4 in Oklahoma City on Tuesday, Golden State is one more road loss away from being pushed to the brink of elimination.
That doesn’t give the Dubs much time to find themselves for the second time in this series, but they’ve been here before, right? After trailing 2-1 in the Western Conference semifinals and the NBA Finals during last year’s title run, isn’t it safe to give them the benefit of the doubt as a superior version of the 2014-15 Warriors?
Yes and no. While no one would be surprised to see the Dubs snap out of this recent funk, win three straight games and go on to win back-to-back championships, that prospect no longer seems like the infallible certainty it would’ve been before.
The inevitability of another Warriors championship run has suddenly turned into unnerving doubt, especially against a Thunder team that’s peaking at the right time and gave the Dubs as much as they could handle during the regular season prior to the fourth quarter meltdowns.
This Thunder opponent is looking more formidable than the Memphis Grizzlies and Cleveland Cavaliers did when they stole games at Oracle Arena to build a 2-1 series lead. This is Golden State’s direst moment of need, when the Dubs must play like themselves rather than the team OKC has contained for most of the series.
It starts with Stephen Curry playing more like the MVP and less like the Game 3 version who finished with 24 points on 7-of-17 shooting (3-for-11 from downtown) and an atrocious -39 plus/minus.
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After averaging 30.5 points per game and joining the 50-40-90 club during the regular season, Curry has yet to hit the 30-point threshold in this series.
But it can’t just be the Steph Curry Show against this thriving Thunder squad. After stepping up in a huge way during Curry’s two-week absence, Klay Thompson has vanished into thin air far more noticeably than he ever has while playing second fiddle to the league MVP.
After a strong 25-point outing in Game 1 of this series, Thompson has averaged just 16.5 points per game on 13-of-36 shooting (36.1 percent) from the field and 4-of-16 shooting (25 percent) from three-point range.
Draymond Green‘s regular season struggles against OKC have extended to the conference finals as well, with the human Swiss Army knife averaging 8.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game on 5-of-18 shooting in the last two games.
Even worse, the Dubs may be without Green for Game 4 if the league suspends him for a supposedly inadvertent kick to Steven Adams‘ kiwis in Game 3 — a potentially devastating blow that is entirely conceivable considering Dahntay Jones just got suspended a game for a similar incident.
Andrew Bogut has been manhandled by Steven Adams; Festus Ezeli still isn’t getting enough run for some reason; the bench depth has been problematic; and the Dubs really haven’t looked like themselves, settling for quick, uncomfortable shots.
The Splash Brothers have been contained, the threes haven’t been falling, the Warriors have been outclassed as a whole, and if they don’t get their act together, this not so surprisingly lethal Thunder team is more than capable of pushing them over the edge.
The Golden State Warriors have made it this far without losing back-to-back games once in the 2015-16 campaign, but after dropping Game 1, there’s a chance they could complete the cycle with that achievement in hand and still lose the series in seven games.
Game 4 in Oklahoma City is a now must-win for a team that was expected to breeze through to the Finals once the San Antonio Spurs were knocked out. The Dubs have always risen to the occasion in the past, but nothing has felt right in this series to this point.
More hoops habit: Golden State Warriors: 5 Keys To Beating The Thunder
It’s not time to hit the panic button just yet on a 73-win team…but keep those fingers on the trigger just in case.