Golden State Warriors: 5 Takeaways From Game 7 vs. Thunder

5. Thunder Choke Or Warriors Being The Warriors?

Becoming the 10th team in NBA history to squander a 3-1 series lead made it easy for the narrative about the Thunder being choke artists to gain any steam it hadn’t already picked up after Game 6.

I humbly submit a more accurate alternative: The Golden State Warriors are just really f***ing good at basketball.

Yes, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook fell apart down the stretch of Game 6 at home. They committed six turnovers in the game’s final five minutes, they were a combined 20-for-58 from the field and their shot selection and decision-making down the stretch was atrocious. Game 7 wasn’t any kinder to Russ, who went 7-for-21 from the field for only 19 points.

But ignoring the context in this series and chalking it up to a choke job by the Thunder would be shortsighted.

First of all, the Warriors are arguably the greatest team in NBA history after winning a record-setting 73 games. They’re the defending champs, they have the back-to-back MVP, and they were a top-five defense AND offense this season.

There is no shame in losing three straight games — including two at Oracle Arena, where the Warriors are now 48-3 this season — to a team of that caliber.

Second, it’s amazing how quickly the narrative changed from “See what happens when the Thunder are healthy for the first time since 2012!”after Game 4 to “There goes that same ol’ Choke-lahoma City Thunder team!” after Games 6 and 7.

While losing that 3-1 series lead is obviously disappointing, the critics can’t have their cake and eat it too. The Thunder deserve just as much credit for how great they were building that unexpected 3-1 lead as they do blame for “falling apart” against a historically great team.

After all, it took a 41-point explosion and an NBA playoff record 11 three-pointers from Klay Thompson to keep the Dubs alive in Game 6, and then another 13 from the Splash Brothers in Game 7 to close it out.

Finally, focusing on OKC’s “choke job” would be ignoring how impressive it was that they even got as far as they did. Remember just a few weeks ago when the Thunder had knocked off a historically great 67-win San Antonio Spurs team and everyone was singing their praises?

The Thunder weren’t even supposed to get by the Spurs. The fact that they were able to do so, and then take another historically great team to the brink of elimination was unbelievable.

As easy as it is to label the 2016 Western Conference Finals as a choke job, the narrative should really lean a lot closer toward the Warriors buckling down and playing tremendous basketball to advance.

Next: No. 4