Golden State Warriors: 5 Takeaways From Sweep Of Portland Trail Blazers

Overcoming Adversity

One of the things that may have actually worked against the Golden State Warriors last season was they didn’t seem ready to roll with the punches in the postseason.

After blowing out teams and losing just nine regular-season games all season, the Dubs seemed taken aback when the Oklahoma City Thunder and then-rival Kevin Durant didn’t make things easy for them.

Obviously the Warriors ended up winning that series, but the NBA Finals proved to provide another road block once the Dubs went up 3-1 and lost Draymond Green for a game. This LeBron James-sized obstacle was too much to overcome.

This season, the Warriors aren’t having such an easy time of it. They lost Durant, now an ally, for a 19-game stretch that included a rare losing streak.

Just one game into the first round they lost Durant again for a few games, plus missed Shaun Livingston for three games in the postseason and Matt Barnes for all four of their playoff games.

The already-thin Warriors suddenly found themselves without three rotational players, one of whom is one of the best two or three players in the entire NBA.

All of that goes without even mentioning that Steve Kerr, the NBA’s winningest coach ever through three seasons, is not able to coach at the moment because of the pain he’s in.

Golden State still swept the Blazers. Even with all of that working against them, the Warriors overcame and moved on. That resilience could prove helpful when tougher teams test the Dubs later on in the postseason.