Kurtenbach: The Warriors say they’re excited about Game 7. Don’t believe them
SAN FRANCISCO Canon Curry perhaps better than anyone understood what the Warriors loss in Championship meant The -year-old son of the Warriors superstar guard just yearned to cry after the Warriors embarrassing - loss to the Rockets on Friday night which forced a Competition in Houston Can you blame him Papa Curry tried to comfort his son Guess what We ve got another battle on Sunday It s OK But the Warriors are already one of teams in NBA history to blow a - playoff series lead having lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals Now they re positioned for the heartbreak again on Sunday night So is it really OK Steph Golden State Warriors Stephen Curry chats with his son Canon after Competition of the Western Conference First Round NBA Playoffs event at Chase Center in San Francisco Calif on Friday May The Houston Rockets defeated the Golden State Warriors - Jose Carlos Fajardo Bay Area News Group Related Articles What Jonathan Kuminga could bring to Warriors in Battle Kurtenbach Those once-reasonable Warriors title hopes They re lost baggage now What do Warriors expect from Steph Curry in Encounter Something special The Warriors made a choice on defense Here s how Houston has made them pay Warriors Kerr offers touching words on Popovich s impact on NBA his life After Friday s loss the Warriors tried to talk their way into particular level of excitement for Sunday s win-or-go-home contest They stated all the right things but it didn t take a decade-plus of being around the band to know that it was merely lip provision The Warriors are scared They should be We got Battle Warriors coach Steve Kerr commented in a near monotone Friday night We re excited about that We feel like we got a great chance to go down there and win Jimmy Butler even suggested that the Warriors confidence was at an all-time high Did anyone tell him the final sum of the challenge Confidence has betrayed the Warriors in the series After Golden State won Contest at Chase Center they celebrated as if the series was over They treated Contest in Houston a close-out encounter like a preseason affair looking for any good reason to put their best players on the bench to rest They figured they d come home and close out the Rockets Friday Then they didn t And the Warriors can t even delude themselves into believing that they deserved a win Houston was far and away the better unit in Encounter turning a - run in the first eight minutes of the fourth quarter to pull away in what was going into the final frame a two-point event Golden State Warriors Draymond Green and Houston Rockets Alperen Sengun end up on their backs in the st quarter of Championship of the Western Conference First Round NBA Playoffs contest at Chase Center in San Francisco Calif on Friday May Karl Mondon Bay Area News Group What s left in the tank for Tournament These guys are gassed Another flight to Houston and a rock-fight championship against the league s premier brawlers is the last thing they need Butler s bruised glute yes that s the injury has zapped him of his explosion on the perimeter Curry has been pushed prodded and punched so often that he s taking breathers on the floor after fouls The Warriors missed of their first shots in the fourth quarter Friday Curry and Butler both went -for- during that stretch Meanwhile Green is back in the NBA Finals where he was borderline unplayable and Kerr is desperately trying to find a role competitor any role participant who can turn in a good challenge against one of the NBA s best defenses and their new go-to double-big zone scheme No one with the Warriors desired to say they were tired but when pressed they seemed too tired to flatly deny it It can be due to whatever Green explained In order to beat this squad you got to make second and third efforts Last two games we have not done that Is it a coincidence that the Warriors last two games have coincided with the series moving to an every-other-day schedule I don t think so The younger Rockets have taken full advantage of this series wear-and-tear And for the Warriors who were once thinking title it s now another flight another match a bit more attrition in this war that we call the playoffs This is a grind This is tough This is what it s supposed to be in the playoffs bring the best out of you Curry declared You earn the right to get to the next round And while a win on Sunday would certainly beat the alternative what lessons have the Warriors taken from this first-round series that can serve them well should they advance Every band the Warriors face this postseason will be younger The schedule both in frequency of games and distance traveled won t become any easier Is a flight to Minneapolis that much better than a flight to Houston Houston Rockets Alperen Sengun fouls Golden State Warriors Jimmy Butler III in the fourth quarter of Championship of the Western Conference First Round NBA Playoffs tournament at Chase Center in San Francisco Calif on Friday May Sengun would be charged with a flagrant foul on this play The Houston Rockets defeated the Golden State Warriors - Jose Carlos Fajardo Bay Area News Group Related Articles Rockets Steven Adams has turned dirty work into an art form vs Warriors What Jonathan Kuminga could bring to Warriors in Tournament How to watch Warriors-Rockets Match Kurtenbach Those once-reasonable Warriors title hopes They re lost baggage now Warriors want no part of this history again A look at the NBA teams to blow a - series lead We re seven games into the first round of the playoffs the ninth contest with playoff-level stakes the Warriors have played in a row and it s still fair to wonder if this group is cut out for the kind of run they want to make The club s inability to hold onto an actual playoff spot in the final week of the season was certainly inauspicious Their failure to close out this series without needing a Championship tells us even more In a one-game series like we now have it s impossible to bet against the Warriors and Curry We ve seen him do too countless roundball miracles to expect anything less come Sunday But this might be a classic episode of winning the battle but losing the war My favorite trope that apologists trot out in a circumstance like this is the suggestion that at past points in history before the season mid-season and before this series the Warriors would have gladly accepted a Battle And that s absolutely true Who wouldn t have been thrilled for a Battle against the Rockets when this Warriors unit was middling at best mid-season I suggested the Warriors would win this series in seven games at the start of it But here s the thing context matters And in that apologist hypothetical they left out the fact that the Warriors had a - series lead When you know that Battle takes on a much different meaning And when you fully consider the ramifications of Sunday s meeting either the end of a season or the continuation of a slow march to a seemingly inevitable loss Well it s enough to make you cry
