Golden State Warriors: How Their Historic Season Slipped Away

After watching their historic season crumble in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals, here are the 5 steps that led to the Golden State Warriors’ disappointing collapse.

Nobody thought it would happen, but it did. In Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals, the Golden State Warriors juggernaut sputtered to a stunning home loss against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, squandering a 3-1 series lead and their chance at the title of “greatest team ever.”

It was hard to process what was happening for a team that won an NBA-record 73 games during the regular season. After losing just nine games all season long, the Dubs dropped their ninth game in the playoffs to miss out on making the kind of NBA history they were aiming for.

Instead, they made the kind of history you don’t want to be a part of. They became the first NBA Finals team (out of 33) to drop a championship series after going up 3-1. They lost three straight games for the first time in the Steve Kerr era. They dropped two games at Oracle Arena, where they had been 50-3 heading into Game 5 of this series.

More from Golden State Warriors

• Grade the Trade: Warriors become title-favs in proposed deal with Raptors
• 5 NBA players everyone should be keeping a close eye on in 2023-24
• New detail about title-costing mistake reopens old wounds for Warriors
• 5 NBA players facing do-or-die 2023–2024 seasons
• 7 Harsh realities of the Golden State Warriors offseason

Make no mistake about it: The 2015-16 Golden State Warriors will be remembered for the greatest regular season ever, but also for the greatest collapse in NBA Finals history.

Of course, none of this is to take anything away from the King James or the Cavs, nor should anyone be making excuses for the Dubs. Cleveland earned every inch of its first championship in 52 years, and if we remember anything from the 2016 NBA Finals, it should be the way LeBron James fulfilled his Herculean task of bringing a title back to “The Land.”

But as the series wore on, it really became a perfect storm for the greatest regular season team in NBA history. There’s a reason the gap in regular season wins between the Warriors and Cavs (16 games) represented the largest underdog victory between two Finals opponents.

As the home crowd at Oracle Arena watched in stunned silence and the Cavs celebrated winning the title on their home court, it was difficult to comprehend how it had come to this, especially after it felt like the series would be over in five games. Here are the five steps to how their historic 73-win season slipped away.

Next: No. 5

5. Injuries

I can feel the Cavaliers’ fans torches approaching, so here’s a quick disclaimer: Injuries are a part of the game, they aren’t an excuse for the Warriors dropping their 3-1 series lead, and you certainly won’t find any sympathy for the Dubs considering how Cleveland played last year’s Finals without Kevin Love and with Kyrie Irving for only one game.

But if the “Cavs would’ve won in 2015 with Irving and Love!” crowd wants to acknowledge the undeniable role that injuries can play in a playoff series, it’d be downright hypocritical to ignore their impact on this year’s Finals as well.

For starters, Andrew Bogut‘s absence wound up being huge over the final two and a half games of the series. Though he had posted a -5.0 plus/minus leading up to his season-ending knee injury, the Warriors desperately needed some rebounding, rim protection and the basic ability to catch the ball and finish in the lane out of the center spot.

With Kerr — for some unknown reason — resisting small-ball lineups, Bogut’s minutes were auctioned off to Festus Ezeli and Anderson Varejao. Bogut may not have been effective for most of the Finals, but he was a hell of a lot better than what Ezeli and Andy V were able to provide.

Ezeli, who started Game 7, was an unmitigated disaster in keeping with an ongoing postseason trend. He was bullied by Kevin Love in the paint, failed to provide rim protection and finished with a God-awful stat line of zero points and one rebound on 0-of-4 shooting for a -9 plus/minus in 11 minutes. YEESH.

Varejao was just as bad, putting up one point, zero rebounds and a -9 plus/minus in eight minutes of action. The Dubs needed 15-20 minutes of passable play from their centers without Bogut. They didn’t get it, and Kerr’s refusal to go small wound up costing Golden State the series.

There’s also the small matter of Curry’s ongoing knee issue after he missed two weeks of the Warriors’ postseason run with an MCL sprain

Though his 17-point overtime in his second round return to the court made it seem like the MVP was fully back, and although Curry wouldn’t make any excuses for his poor play in the Finals, injuries don’t rob players of their peak performance; they rob them of their consistency.

This was never more apparent than the championship series, when the Warriors watched their MVP’s numbers plummet on basketball’s grandest stage:

• Regular Season:  30.1 PPG, 6.7 APG, 5.4 RPG, 2.1 SPG, .504/.454/.908 shooting
• NBA Finals:  22.6 PPG, 3.7 APG, 4.4.9 RPG, 0.9 SPG, .403/.400/.929 shooting

In his postgame presser, Curry said surgery wasn’t on the docket for his summer, but he also won’t be playing for Team USA in the 2016 Summer Olympics. There’s no question that the grind of an 82-game season takes its toll on everyone, but having to shake off rust mid-playoff run was undoubtedly a factor in his up-and-down play following his return.

Keep in mind, Curry’s two-week absence was originally projected as the best-case scenario. An MCL sprain — no matter what grade — is not an injury you can just shake off in a little over a month.

Again, no one’s making excuses for the Warriors, who had more than enough to win this series regardless of Curry and Bogut’s health. But it’s also impossible to ignore the minor factors of Bogut’s absence and Curry’s inconsistency following the MCL sprain.

Next: No. 4

4. Missing Open Shots

These Golden State Warriors were the greatest shooting team in NBA history. For a team that obliterated the league record for made threes (1,077), led the league in three-point percentage (41.6 percent) and boasted perhaps the two greatest shooters of all time who just recorded the first (402) and third (276) most individual threes made in one season, it’s not a matter of opinion. It’s a statement of fact.

Yet in the Finals, the Warriors were a shell of their former selves in this respect, bricking open three after open three as they went cold at the worst times.

During the regular season, a staggering 80.2 percent of Golden State’s three-point attempts were what NBA.com classifies as “open” (nearest defender 4-6 feet away) or “wide open” (6+ feet way). The Warriors converted a whopping 42.8 percent of these looks that we’ll refer to as “uncontested.”

In the Finals, 75.7 percent of the Dubs’ three-point attempts were uncontested. Unfortunately for Golden State, they were only able to convert 39.5 percent of them. It may not seem like much, but that 3.3 percent drop was noticeable in this series, especially before a better shooting night in Game 7 skewed the averages.

For the Splash Brothers in particular, those open looks just didn’t fall. Curry missed 10 of his 13 “wide open” threes in the Finals and shot 4-of-14 from deep in Game 7. Thompson missed 20 of his 28 “open” three-pointers overall and struggled for his second straight Finals, averaging 19.6 points per game on .427/.350/.786 shooting splits.

For a player who had helped carry the Warriors without Curry — and even with Curry, when he brought Golden State back from the depths with 41 points in Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals — Thompson’s Game 7 was disappointing.

In the decisive contest, the league MVP finished with only 17 points on 6-of-19 shooting while committing four turnovers. His Third Team All-NBA backcourt mate had 14 points on 6-of-17 shooting, including 2-for-10 from three-point range.

We can only shake our heads at the mention of Harrison Barnes, who shot 5-for-32 from the field over the last three games, put up another 3-for-10 dud in Game 7 and missing 20 of his 29 uncontested three-pointers for the series.

It’s a make-or-miss league, even for a team known for constant makes. No one knows that better than the Golden State Warriors right now.

Next: No. 3

3. A Failure To Adapt

Maybe it was pride. Maybe it was overconfidence. Maybe it was trusting the larger sample size to a fault. But whatever the case, Steve Kerr and the Warriors got caught putting their faith in the long game rather than react to what was happening in the moment.

They were going to beat this team. They were going to close out at home, where they were damn near unbeatable. Their open looks were going to fall, LeBron wasn’t going to keep making jumpers, the Warriors’ deep bench was going to start producing again, Ezeli was going to step up, Curry was going to start beating Tristan Thompson out of pick-and-rolls…the list goes on and on.

When those things didn’t happen, and when those things they knew to be fact based on the larger body of evidence, they tried to force those things to happen anyway. They were unable to adapt when the situation call for it, and as they stubbornly clung to what was supposed to happen, Tyronn Lue and the Cavs went out and made things happen.

Look at the minor adjustments Cleveland made. Those of us in the “David Blatt shouldn’t have been fired!” camp will have to hold our silence forever now, since Lue absolutely out-coached Kerr in this series.

When Matthew Dellavedova was a disaster, Lue gave his minutes to Iman Shumpert and even Mo Williams. When Kevin Love struggled, he yanked him. When it looked like the Cavs were running LeBron James and Kyrie Irving into the ground, Lue got more strategic with when he rested his stars in a dramatically shortened rotation.

Kerr, meanwhile, kept feeding minutes to Ezeli and Varejao in a do-or-die Game 7. He didn’t cut down on his rotation, he refused to unleash the Lineup of Death after a rough outing in Game 6, he didn’t ride his Big Three long enough and and he went with the struggling Barnes over the far more effective Shaun Livingston late in Game 7.

Kerr’s decision to reinsert Ezeli into the fourth quarter Sunday night was perhaps the decisive stretch that lost the Dubs Game 7. As soon as Ezeli checked in, LeBron James baited him into a three-shot foul with a pump fake, and then drilled another three over him on the following possession. A two-point lead quickly turned into an 89-89 tie.

Simply put, Kerr’s insistence on sticking with the strategy that got them there rubbed off on his team the wrong way. When all those little things weren’t breaking their way, the Warriors panicked and tried too hard to force those things to happen instead of taking what was given.

You could see it from the little, uncharacteristically dumb things the Warriors did down the stretch. On the memorable play where Kevin Love defended Curry on the perimeter like his life was depending on it, Curry settled for three when he could’ve easily blown by Love and attacked the lane.

The Warriors were down three at that point, but they didn’t need a three. They still had time. Instead, Curry forced up a bad look from three and rushed it because he knew the matchups dictated that was what was supposed to happen. He was supposed to drill a three over Love. Even Curry admitted he got tunnel vision and should’ve gone for two in his postgame presser.

Kerr and the Warriors’ system is the reason they won a league-record 73 wins, so it’s hard to fault them too much. If any team in NBA history had a reason to be stubborn and continue sticking with what worked over the larger sample size, it was these Warriors. Unfortunately, it’s also part of the reason their historic season ended in three straight defeats.

Next: No. 2

2. Green’s Suspension

The Golden State Warriors got caught playing with their food, and after losing Game 7, they’re left with the rotten taste in their mouths of letting a historic 73-win season slip away.

Despite his massive final performance in an attempt to absolve himself of this burden, Draymond Green‘s Game 5 suspension will go down as the undisputed turning point during the greatest upset in NBA Finals history.

In the waning moments of Game 4, Green made a play on the ball(s), going (for the) nuts after LeBron James made a show of stepping over him to get back to the play.

Then ensuing flicka-da-wrist on the King’s jewels resulted in a well-earned Flagrant 1 upon further review by the league, putting him over the flagrant foul points threshold and punishing him with a one-game suspension for Game 5.

Whether the league should extend its flagrant foul leniency the longer a team lasts in the playoffs, whether Green actually made contact with the King’s gems or just got the taint (a fascinating debate behind closed doors in the league office that day, I’m sure), whether the contact was incidental, whether it was a warranted reaction since LeBron tried to treat Draymond’s forehead like a cup of tea…none of it is relevant now.

All that matters is Green, knowing full well how close he was to being suspended, lashed out in the worst possible moment. Ultimately, it was his team that felt like it got smacked in the groin.

Given that the masses believed he should’ve been suspended before the LeBron James altercation, tempting the fates in that way was downright negligent, especially for the emotional leader of a 73-win team.

The Warriors had Game 4 wrapped up and were just a few minutes away from heading back to Oracle Arena for an elimination Game 5. You could see it on the Cavs’ faces: They knew the series was over heading into a title clincher in an arena where the Dubs were 50-3 for the season.

In a flash, their outlook changed. Green was suspended, Klay Thompson and Mo Speights started running their mouths, and LeBron James was served heaps of bulletin board material on a silver platter. Without their best two-way player, the Dubs dropped Game 5 and struggled to find their mojo in Game 6 with all the confidence that James and Kyrie Irving had rediscovered at Oracle.

Draymond Green earned Second Team All-NBA honors, he probably should’ve won a Defensive Player of the Year Award over the last two years and he was pivotal during Stephen Curry‘s two-week absence in these same playoffs.

In Game 7, he was easily Golden State’s best player, finishing with a game-high 32 points, 15 rebounds, nine assists and two steals on 11-of-15 shooting from the floor and 6-of-8 shooting from downtown.

But unfortunately for Draymond Green, all the lovable swagger, unwavering confidence and abrasive trash talk that went hand-in-hand with his competitive fire came back to haunt his team, leaving this Bay Area hero as perhaps the biggest scapegoat behind the greatest collapse in NBA Finals history.

Next: No. 1

1. King James Is Really F***ing Good

Draymond Green’s suspension robbed the Warriors of a pristine opportunity to close out their opponent at home, but if it weren’t for LeBron James’ all-time performances in Games 5-7, that absence wouldn’t have even mattered.

At the end of the day, you give credit where it’s due: King James just presented the defining moment of his legendary career, almost singlehandedly leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to their first NBA championship over one of the greatest teams of all time.

For the series, LeBron won unanimous Finals MVP honors behind his absurd averages of 29.7 points, 11.3 rebounds, 8.9 assists, 2.6 steals and 2.3 blocks per game on .494/.371/.721 shooting splits.

Despite averaging 24.8 points, 11.0 rebounds, 8.3 assists, 2.3 steals and 1.8 blocks per game through the first four games, James was hammered for not being assertive enough on offense, for not playing at a Herculean level, for not transcending the sport itself.

In Game 5, with his team facing elimination, LeBron was masterful with a 41-16-7-3-3 stat line on 16-of-30 shooting from the field and 4-for-8 shooting from three-point range. None of it would’ve mattered if he came out complacent in Game 6 and lost his fifth Finals, but he didn’t.

With the Cavs counting on another all-time performance to force a Game 7, LeBron delivered once again in Game 6 and was arguably even better, dropping a 41-11-8-4-3 stat line on 16-of-27 shooting from the floor and 3-of-6 shooting from three-point range.

In Game 7, LeBron poured in a 27-11-11 triple-double (the third ever in a Finals Game 7) with three blocks and two steals. He even made the defensive play of the game, pinning Andre Iguodala‘s layup on the backboard and preserving the 89-89 tie that Irving would break with his dagger three-pointer.

LeBron was the game-changer in every sense of the word in this series. He tea-bagged Draymond Green and somehow got him suspended. He was the best player in a series featuring Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Kyrie Irving.

If not for The Block in Game 7, his block on Curry in Game 6 would’ve been the defining moment of the 2016 NBA Finals.

After Klay Thompson made his comments about it being a “man’s league,” LeBron became more than a man among boys; he was been the proverbial Boogeyman, a terrifying monster lurking in the nightmares of the mere children that represented his competition.

It was almost enough to make you wish he’d pick on someone his own size, until you realized he was doing all this against a 73-win juggernaut.

After leading Cleveland to its first ever NBA championship against arguably the greatest team ever, King James reminded the world that he’s so much more than the modern day Jerry West.

He might have been one of the only players in NBA history singularly talented, focused and well-balanced enough to pull off a feat like this.

More hoops habit: 2016 NBA Finals: Game 7 Recap And Highlights

Curry just had arguably the greatest offensive season in NBA history, and no one can take that away from him. He was the undisputed MVP this season, and no one should think otherwise. But LeBron James did what he had to by turning in one of the greatest Finals performances we’ve ever seen, and it’s the chief reason the Warriors’ historic season ended in defeat.