The comeback is complete. The Golden State Warriors have earned their ticket to the 2016 NBA Finals. After being down 3-1 in the series with practically the entirety of the NBA community counting them out, they’ve continued to do the seemingly impossible as they have so many times this year. Pack some ear protection Thursday night at Oracle for when the Cleveland Cavaliers come to town for the second consecutive year.
The shots that Splash Brother teammates Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry pulled off were nothing short of remarkable. We’re spoiled to the point that a Thompson 180° fade away or a Curry 35-foot snipe barely impresses us anymore. Those shots are all too commonplace, especially in tonight’s contest where they brought 57 on 13 combined three pointers. Klay seemed to be riding his hot streak from Game 6 where he contributed a playoff record 11 made threes.
Heroball simply didn’t prevail. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook couldn’t boost the Thunder to the biggest stage in basketball as their day concluded with an inefficient combined 17-40 shooting affair. With just 13 bench points in Oklahoma City’s limited rotation, the pair of Durant and Westbrook couldn’t take over the eliminator Game 7 as they had in Game 3 and Game 4 blowouts. With similar team rebounds and field goal percentage, it was the great equalizing three ball that gave Oakland its second Finals trip in two years.
Spreading the ball was Golden State’s M.O. Monday night as every single player who touched the court chalked up a score. Outside of Klay and Steph’s scoring exhibition, no numbers from the bench stand out given the Warriors NBA-leading assist total this season. You can count on the same bench production in the next round of the playoffs this Thursday as the Dubs take on the Cleveland Cavaliers at 9 p.m. EST.
Stephen Curry is a cheat code:
Stephen Curry hits the 3 over Kevin Durant! #WARRIORSvTHUNDER
(via @clippittv)pic.twitter.com/z82uvzATlU— NBA On Def Pen (@NBAOnDefPen) May 31, 2016
