After everything the Golden State Warriors have achieved, they enter the final game of the NBA season in real danger of becoming a punchline.
Heading into the playoffs, if you ranked the ways the 73-win Warriors could fail, blowing a 3-1 lead in the Finals would have been second only to losing a 3-0 series lead for the most spectacular.
If Golden State had fallen to the Oklahoma City Thunder, which they were so close to doing in the last round, the defending champions would have been roasted for not even returning to the Finals. But that would have been nothing compared to the onslaught of crying Michael Jordan memes awaiting them on social media if they drop Game 7 to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday night.
It’s not just that they’re on the verge of collapsing, it’s how they’re falling apart. And weirdly, the criticism starts with mental errors and a loss of composure. We’ve never seen these Warriors look this flustered in probably two years.
Draymond Green, the vocal leader of the team, has an ability to get under the skin of opposing players with his trash talking and instigating. Yet, he lost the psychological battle with LeBron James at the end of Game 4, which can be pinpointed as the moment when the series flipped.
Green supposedly called LeBron a “b****”, but the bigger crime was hitting James in the groin. If that was an isolated incident, Green likely would have been fined. But because he’s waged a war on reproductive organs during the playoffs and had several priors, he was suspended for the sea-changing Game 5.
Warriors are +36 with Draymond Green on the floor in this series.
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) June 17, 2016
They are -22 when he is off the court.
It’s hard to blame Green for going at it with LeBron. That’s just what he does and he can get away with it because he and Golden State always back up the bravado. But you can’t back it up if you’re out of the line-up and because he couldn’t help himself, his absence opened the door for Cleveland to get back in the series. Still, volatility is in Draymond’s nature.
Stephen Curry, on the other hand, has been as unflappable as it gets over the past two seasons. That’s why it was so surprising to see the two-time reigning MVP lose his cool in an uncharacteristic manner at the end of Game 6.
Before that point, Curry had never fouled out in his NBA career, but for some reason he was reaching in throughout the contest, even when he was in foul trouble. Whatever the reason for Curry’s aggressiveness – pressure to compensate for his poor defence at times in the series? – he was clearly frustrated, to the point he chucked his mouthpiece into the crowd and was ejected.
Even when things have gone wrong for Curry and he seems to have hit a low point, he’s appeared to keep his nerves and not be overwhelmed.
Watching LeBron remind the world of his greatness, make his argument for MVP, outplay you and throw the most disrespectful look in your direction after swatting your shot in Game 6 is enough to throw off anyone. But seeing it happen to the ever-cool Curry is telling of its impact.
The Warriors’ invulnerability has set them up for one of sport’s great downfalls. The higher you sit, the further the fall. Just ask the 2007 New England Patriots. That’s the most comparable situation to what’s currently unfolding with Golden State.
And like the Patriots had to deal with and still do, if the Warriors blow it they’ll forever be known as the team that fell an inch short of immortality.
The difference though, is while the Patriots’ dream of a perfect season evaporated in the matter of minutes, Golden State’s is crumbling over the course of days. That means the pressure and stakes have culminated over the past two games to now reach a peak.
Either the tribulations will be forgotten if the Warriors repeat, or they’ll be etched in the history books and our memories for all the wrong reasons.
