Did The Warriors Lose The Playoffs

[Narkis Eatman]

Theyhad only four wins in games decided by three points or less (they had a record of 4-11 in such contests). The only other Western Conference team with less wins in those games was the New Orleans Pelicans, who were 1-7.

And thanks to YOU, dear reader, for supporting these Warriors and giving them the absolute best vibes for another season. This fan base is undefeated, and I appreciate you for making Dub Nation HQ the greatest place in the world to talk the highs, lows, and unforgettable life lessons we learn from these special athletes. I look forward to sharing these playoffs with you, even if the Dubs are barred this year for being mid.

To answer that question, I have to let you know one thing about me: I\u2019m a relatively new Dub Nation blog boy. I began this blog life on Golden State of Mind in like 2015, when I was super bored at my property management job and needed something ANYTHING to take my mind away from another resident threatening physical violence on me for their car being towed after being parked in the fire hydrant red zone for a third day.

When I discovered GSOM (I randomly Googled \u201CFun Warriors blog\u201D and stumbled across the site) I was hooked. These people were the most astute, funny, imaginative, and completely insane Dubs fans I had ever seen in written form. I could begin to hear their voices, and get excited when I read wacky names like Goofus, Sleepy Floyd and Duby Dub Dubs dropping science in one of the hottest message boards in sports blog history.

Over time I went from a quietly shy lurker, to an annoying fringe commenter, to one of the most diabolically poetical pro-GSW fanatics to ever grace this planet. The Gold Blooded King, my imperviously bombastic alter ego, emerged to terrorize other message boards like Fear the Sword, Pounding the Rock, Welcome to Loud City, and GSOM\u2019s arch frenemy The Dream Shake.

I was talking so crazy on their team sites that a few of them actually blocked me from commenting. Can\u2019t blame \u2018em: I was a part of a small, unofficial, elite parachute team of GSOM bloggers who would travel to enemy blog territory to plant the golden flag of dominance. My full nerd self was able to connect basketball to trash talking in a way that had never existed outside of actually playing hoops in real life, or at least NBA 2K.

It\u2019s a pity SB Nation completely destroyed their archival comment section, because the community really resonated with that piece and gave me a lot of positive feedback. That encouragement eventually led me continue writing, become a professional journalist, and end up kicking it with Monte Poole as an accredited media member at Chase Center.

Isn\u2019t it interesting that this rollercoaster ride that you good folks have rode with me since 2016 pretty much started with an emotionally charged therapy exercise lamenting the most painful loss in franchise history?

A lot of my writing career has been punctuated by me with a beer in one hand, a pen in the other, crafting an end of season soliloquy mourning of one of several editions of Warriors teams. We\u2019re talking about squads that boasted greatest player alive Stephen Curry, and yet somehow still ended in defeat. That\u2019s the other end of the coin of a team that is the most dominant team of the modern era, winning four rings over the last decade and changing basketball forever. If they aren\u2019t hosting a parade, they\u2019re watching the postseason on TV like the rest of us.

When I watched the Dubs completely fall apart in their meekly elimination at the hands of the relatively beatable and shorthanded Sacramento Kings last week, I was surprised at how this particular loss didn\u2019t resonate with me like previous eliminations.

It wasn\u2019t giving the nauseous delirium I felt after blowing the 3-1 lead in 2016, or the bitterly solemn acceptance after closing out Oracle Arena and the Kevin Durant-era with a loss in the 2019 Finals. Neither did it give me the quiet simmering of the 2020 Covid lockdown season, nor the painfully annoying bow out to Ja Morant\u2019s Grizzlies in the 2021 play-in tournament.

Last season\u2019s disturbing exit in the second round of a very winnable series against LeBron\u2019s Lakers left a gnawing confusion about chemistry issues that could have sabotaged a championship repeat. But I feel none of that about this season\u2019s team.

It\u2019s clear: the 2023-2024 Warriors never figured themselves out in a league that is sick and tired of Golden State being in the title hunt and have spent years honing rosters to exploit GSW\u2019s weaknesses.

Even though our Dubs could show flashes on any given night of a dominant champion\u2019s resolve, there were way too many self-defeating patterns to defeat hungry, younger contenders looking to close the coffin on the Golden Empire\u2019s dynasty.

There\u2019s a reason these Dubs were the 10th seed. Some nights they looked old, some nights they looked small, and apparently didn\u2019t have enough games with their best players available at the same time to build cohesion. Some nights they looked disinterested and other nights they looked like they, despite their best efforts, flat out couldn\u2019t find the magic they desperately needed.

I feel like this was the season that the Warriors came to the cold reality that just penciling Curry-Thompson-Green into your starting lineup doesn\u2019t mean a guaranteed playoff berth. And if that is no longer the case, the Warriors apparently have not developed whatever it will take to get back into the playoff stage, which rages red hot as we speak.

Nobody\u2019s time lasts forever. But there\u2019s enough here that there may not have to be much tinkering needed to reignite their competitive flames and get them back into contention. In any case thanks to these guys for another year of roundball, even if it was perhaps the most maddening and bemusing season we\u2019ve witnessed over the last decade of the Big 3 era.

After losing every Game 3 of the 2016 playoffs and suffering through their worst playoff performances of each of their first two series in 2017, the stage was set for the Golden State Warriors to lose Game 3 of the 2017 Finals in Cleveland. Instead, the Warriors overcame a six-point deficit with less than three minutes left in the game and claimed a 118-113 victory.

Most of the NBA world assumed that Cleveland had given their best effort in Game 3, only to fall short. The Warriors were expected to cruise to a Game 4 victory to close out the postseason with an unblemished 16-0 record.

However, the Cavaliers had other plans. Their role players finally contributed, and their Big 3 all put up stellar performances as the Cavaliers controlled the game from start to finish in a 137-116 victory. The Cavaliers set quite a few records in the process, as their 49-point first quarter, 86-point first half, and 24 three-point makes were all records for any NBA Finals game.

Cleveland's dominant performance in Game 4 was certainly unexpected, even though it came after a close Game 3 that nearly swung their way and altered the course of the series. However, the Warriors have controlled most of the action in these Finals, despite their demoralizing loss in what could have been the closeout game. While the Cavaliers will have a new lease on life after their crushing victory, all signs point to the Warriors closing out the gentleman's sweep with a Game 5 win in Oakland.

After barely showing up for the first three games, Cleveland's role players finally showed up in their Game 4 victory. J.R. Smith was arguably the only player to arrive before Game 4, and he repeated his solid showing in Game 3 on the offensive end while holding Klay Thompson to just 13 points after he exploded for 30 the night before. Tristan Thompson grabbed 10 rebounds on Friday night, nearly matching his combined total of 11 through the first three games. Deron Williams scored his first points of the series, including Cleveland's record-breaking 19th triple on a beautiful sequence with 32 seconds left in the third quarter:

The Cavaliers had been relying heavily on their Big 3 for most of their offense in the first three games. Kyrie Irving barely showed up for the first two games, and Kevin Love fell flat in Game 3. However, the Cavaliers are at their best when LeBron and Kyrie can carve out space on their way to the rim and dish out to open shooters behind the arc. Despite the Warriors' designation as a jump-shooting team, the Cavaliers actually made more three-pointers during the regular season than anyone besides the Houston Rockets. If the Cavaliers manage to force a Game 6 back in Cleveland, they will need their role players

Despite the Warriors' designation as a jump-shooting team, the Cavaliers actually made more three-pointers during the regular season than anyone besides the Houston Rockets. The Cavaliers were 20 for 76 (26.3%) on their open and wide-open triples in the series before Game 4 and hit 24 of 45 overall on Friday night. If the Cavaliers manage to force a Game 6 back in Cleveland, they will need their role players to take advantage of their open looks and take at least some small amount of pressure off of their three All-Stars.

Before Game 4, there was a legitimate debate over which of Kevin Durant or Steph Curry would win Finals MVP. While Durant was always the heavy favorite given his contributions on both ends of the floor, Steph Curry at least had a legitimate case given how essential he is to the Warriors' offensive flow. However, Curry fell flat at just the wrong time in Game 4. Some might argue that the Cavaliers were allowed to be a little too physical with Curry at times during this game, but Curry was

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