The State of the Warriors Ahead of the Western Conference Finals
After a grueling series in Memphis, the Warriors are officially headed to familiar territory for the first time in two years: The Western Conference Finals. It took a slugfest of a series against the upstart Grizzlies and a clean team effort against MVP Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets to get here, and now the Dubs will face 22-year-old superstar Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks after they shelled the Suns tonight in Game 7.
It’s unclear who the Warriors would rather be seeing, but that hypothetical is out the window now. Golden State will have to make adjustments to counteract not just Luka, but the Dallas role-players who’ve stepped up big-time such as Spencer Dinwiddie and Jalen Brunson.
Ahead of the WCF, however, there’s been some good news that will surely make the Warriors and their fans feel a lot better. Steve Kerr is set to rejoin the team after missing the last few games of the Memphis series due to a Covid case. While Mike Brown did a solid job, unsurprising given he’s been a head coach in the NBA before and will be after this season in Sacramento, Kerr has his system and method of gameplanning that just fits Golden State better. He will be ready to go on Wednesday when the WCF kicks off at the Chase Center.
Another piece of good news is that Kerr confirmed we may be seeing Gary Payton II, who was shoved by Dillon Brooks resulting in a broken elbow, back in the next round. While it was projecting initially that Payton would be back a few games into the NBA Finals should the Warriors make it that far, there seems to be some optimism from the training staff that he could be back sooner. This will be important, as he could be one of the defenders that Golden State throws at Luka. Payton gave Ja Morant fits in his only game played in the second round, and even gave Jokic trouble in the first despite a massive size difference.
Payton’s using his time off well, working on finishing a degree at Oregon State where he played college hoops. He isn’t the only Warrior to do so, however: It was announced today that Steph Curry recently finished his Bachelor’s degree in sociology from Davidson, finishing up his semester in the middle of the NBA Playoffs is a pretty insane accomplishment, but what else can you expect from Steph besides the amazing at this point?
Curry will be locked and loaded for the next round. He’s shown signs of slow starts and even a bit of a shooting slump lately, and while finishing his degree likely isn’t the reason, it probably doesn’t help that he’s had that as another thing on his to-do list. Steph historically goes crazy in the West Finals, which makes sense because he always turns up when the lights get the brightest. The Mavericks also don’t have anyone to run as the point defender on him the same way other squads have, meaning he’ll have a little more free reign to trade haymakers with Doncic.
The Western Conference Finals kick off on Wednesday, and the Warriors will have home court advantage due to being the higher seed. They also secured home court for the rest of the playoffs, as they have a better record than the Celtics and while tied with the Heat, they own the tiebreaker from going 2-0 in the season series. While it will be interesting to see matchups like those two for Golden State, they have to make sure they take care of business with Dallas first.
(Photo credit: NBAE / Getty Images)