Stephen Curry The Golden State Warriors gathered for an off-day film session on Saturday on an upper floor of Chase Centre, their home arena in San Francisco, with a panoramic view of the bay as they prepared for the conclusion of their first-round playoff series with the Sacramento Kings.
When there is room, coach Steve Kerr prefers to do his filming sessions there. If not, the squad is stranded outside of its dressing room, “in the dungeon down below,” he claimed. Especially before Game 7 on Sunday, he was appreciative of the wide area. It was a healing encounter.
“I do think there needs to be a sense of perspective,” Kerr said, “even if it’s just a lovely view, some sunshine, and a chance to breathe and rest between games. That might be significant.
Stephen Curry is another thing that has the power to alter outcomes. No one was calmer than Stephen Curry on Sunday as he guided the Warriors to a 120-100 victory against the Kings to claim the series. Curry scored a game-high 50 points, an NBA record for a Game 7 performance. He made parabolic three-point shots. He sped to make layups. He played with the defence. And before the game was over, he unleashed a torrent of Kings supporters into Sacramento’s streets.
“Sublime,” Kerr pronounced.
Warriors forward Draymond Green described it as “total domination.”
Guard Klay Thompson described it as “a joy to watch”.
As one of the NBA’s most renowned cores, Stephen Curry , Thompson, and Green have spent years annihilating opponents. On the other side, the Kings were participating in their first postseason since 2006. They were young and active. The Warriors are bred for success.
Stephen Curry remarked, “It was a great time to put it all together.” Before a big night, there are still jitters, worries, and anticipation. But once we’re there, experience takes control.
Stephen Curry , who appeared to be dressed for a wake when he arrived at the Golden 1 Centre in an all-black costume, made 20 of his 38 field goal attempts and seven of his eighteen 3-point attempts. He also had six assists and eight rebounds.
What a phenomenal performance, Thompson exclaimed.
The Western Conference semifinal between No. 6 seed Golden State and No. 7 seed Los Angeles Lakers will begin on Tuesday in San Francisco. On Friday, the second-seeded Memphis Grizzlies were defeated by the Lakers in their first-round series.
“To do this for a decade, it’s incredible,” Kerr said of his key players. There’s a reason these people are Hall of Famers and champions: the energy it takes to fend off rivals year after year, to prepare for and win games, and to do it repeatedly.
Despite having long-standing locations fewer than 100 miles apart, the Warriors and Kings clubs have created vastly distinct styles of basketball for the most of the last ten years.
The Warriors have been busy winning championships (four), making it to six NBA Finals, and revolutionising the game of basketball thanks to the Splash Brothers (Stephen Curry and Thompson). In contrast, the Kings have spent the last ten years or so slogging through a desert of futility that has left them on the verge of irrelevance.
Their renovation got underway last year when they traded for All-Star centre Sabonis from Indiana. It continued during the off-season when they hired Mike Brown, one of Kerr’s assistants, as their coach, acquired Kevin Huerter through a trade with Atlanta, and signed reserve guard Malik Monk in free agency.
Stephen Curry scores 50 points Warriors
In fact, the Kings went 48-34 during the regular season under the leadership of All-Star point guard De’Aaron Fox. To celebrate each victory, a beam of purple light was fired from the roof of their arena. The rallying cry “Light the Beam!” helped bury, if not quite erase, the dysfunction of earlier years.
Brown and his partner’s kid had dinner at a restaurant in the Sacramento region on Saturday night before Game 7. Brown was approached by a small group of young boys who wanted to quiz him on the team’s members. They inquired about Sabonis’ injured right thumb from the regular season. Regarding Fox’s broken left index finger, they inquired. They inquired as to Keegan Murray’s shooting readiness for Game 7. Murray is a first-year forward.
And one of the youngsters was a fan of the Warriors, so they began making fun of him, Brown recalled. He said, ‘No, I’m not!’ I’m not, I’m not! He did, however, wear a Golden State Warriors cap.
More than anything else, according to Brown, he could feel their enthusiasm, which was a kind of postseason expectation Sacramento had not had in a long time.
The Warriors’ roster appeared to be continuously changing throughout the regular season. Curry suffered an ankle sprain and a shoulder injury. Their starting small forward Andrew Wiggins left the team in the middle of February, citing personal matters, and he missed the remaining 25 regular-season games.
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Meanwhile, Kerr found it difficult to balance the development of young players like Moses Moody, Jonathan Kuminga, and James Wiseman, who was ultimately traded midseason, with securing a playoff berth (which wasn’t a guarantee). In the end, as the postseason grew closer, Kerr continued to rely on the usual suspects — Stephen Curry , Thompson, and Green, a defensive stalwart.
The Warriors were happy to see Wiggins back for the playoffs, but after dropping their opening two games, a new challenge emerged: Stephen Curry, Thompson, and Green were down 2-0 in a playoff series for the first time in their careers. Maybe they required a different challenge.
At halftime on Sunday, Sacramento had a 58-56 lead over Golden State, a team that has a history of annihilating opponents in the third quarter. Stephen Curry hit a three-pointer. To snag a layup, he cut through a variety of opponents. He removed a floating.
When he is locked in or laser-focused, you can tell, according to Green.
By the time the team’s starting centre Kevon Looney scored off an offensive rebound, Golden State had a nine-point advantage.
There was agitation, not necessarily terror, but that was the general attitude of the Kings supporters inside the stadium. The hostile setting and the pressure of a Game 7 didn’t seem to phase Stephen Curry because he had already encountered this type of circumstance so frequently. In actuality, he was consuming it.
Kerr declared, “This is one of the best players in the history of the game,” and continued, “The resilience and the work that goes into that, the focus, it’s incredible to watch.”
The crowd’s anxiety changed to resignation as Golden State’s lead grew in the fourth quarter.
With a double-double of 11 points and 21 rebounds, Looney completed an outstanding series.
The man is “a machine” and “a flat-out winner,” according to Kerr.
But it was no surprise that Stephen Curry owned the stage. Another one versus the Lakers is forthcoming. Stephen Curry was asked if anybody could stop him after the game on Sunday.
He said, “Hopefully, we never find out.