Western Conference Finals Game 2 Preview
By Kevin Wang
For many years, Warriors fans everywhere have sustained on the hope for better seasons to come. The last couple of years of historic success have allowed us to become arrogant and complacent, and why shouldn’t we be? Finishing off a 67 win campaign with the championship only to follow it with 73 wins and another berth in the Western Conference Finals, the Warriors have given us reasons to be accustomed to success. And while a game one loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder does little to dampen our spirits, it seems like an appropriate time to appreciate and reflect on the path the Warriors have taken to get this far.
I am grateful for the Houston Rockets for showing us the importance and meaning of continuity in the locker room. Just a year ago, the Warriors were squaring up against the Rockets in the WCF (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4y4wrHEtfjw). While the Warriors won handedly in five games, only five points separated the two sides after the first two games at home in what looked to be a competitive series. (http://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/2015-nba-western-conference-finals-rockets-vs-warriors.html) Less than a year later, the Warriors and Rockets meet again, and while the rosters and results remained mostly the same, expectations differed dramatically. What happened to the Rockets happens to multiple teams every year and we should be grateful for the Warriors to not only have had a historic regular season, but also to be in position to fight for a spot in the NBA Finals again.
I am grateful for the Portland Trailblazers for showing us the mental toughness it takes to be a part of the NBA elite. If in round one the Warriors faced the shell of a former western conference giant in the Rockets, round two presented them with a reenergized Trailblazers team that had lost four starters since 2015. Pegged as a rebuilding team, the Trailblazers exceeded expectations since October and gave the defending champions a serious run for their money. As Klay Thompson puts it, it was probably the closest five game series in NBA history (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUP74dvd7fI). (http://www.csnbayarea.com/warriors/klay-might-be-closest-five-game-series-all-time) For a team that spent less than a year together to show up as they did against the Warriors, the Trailblazers should remind fans everywhere that there are always 31 other teams in the league who can catch you off guard and tear down everything your team has worked for in the regular season.
I am grateful for the Oklahoma City Thunder for showing us what it means to not settle. The 2015-2016 NBA season will forever be headlined by the simultaneous runs of the Golden States Warriors and the San Antonio Spurs. For months, everyone had penciled in the Warriors/Spurs matchup for the Western Conference Finals as must see basketball. The Thunder, who had won 55 games in the regular season, were consistently overlooked and could have easily folded to the Spurs after a game one blowout. However, they studied, prepared, and adjusted and had the Spurs on their heels for the rest of the series.
When they found themselves down 13 after the first half in game one against the Warriors, the Thunder were again written off as undermatched. The second half was a different story and the Thunder successfully closed out the comeback with a six point victory. For two years now, Warriors fans have only seen the Warriors lose 31 times, postseason included (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Golden_State_Warriors_seasons). The Warriors have only trailed in a series once in that time and the Memphis Grizzlies were not nearly as complete a team as the Thunder are this year.
The Warriors find themselves in unfamiliar territory trailing early in this series and will have to come out tonight and make a statement in game two. It will be five more days before the Warriors have the chance to regain home court in Oklahoma City and momentum can easily swing one way or another in that time. As fans, we are needed more now than we ever were in the last two years. The Warriors are under tremendous pressure to finish off the greatest regular season ever with consecutive championships and we need to remember and appreciate everything that we have enjoyed. The Thunder are clearly unintimidated, so we will need to be there to roar even louder in game two tonight.