Warriors vs Mavericks

Vintage Klay, steady Steph and a young & athletic supporting cast propels Golden State past Dallas for its 6th Finals berth in the last 8 seasons.

Absolutely. The danger, though, is the belief that deep runs for Luka and the Mavericks will now be less of a surprise and more regular. And he did win a pair of MVPs and three titles in the past. A better big man is a must, and the Mavs must also decide on guard Jalen Brunson, a free agent this summer. And so it ends, five games into the Western Conference finals, perhaps eight more games than they were expected to last this postseason. Curry won the first Kobe Bryant Award at the All-Star Game in February, and now adds the Magic Johnson award for being voted MVP in the Western Conference finals. Wiggins is arguably a better scorer than Iguodala was during his peak-Warriors years, bringing more aggressive shooting and plenty of bounce off the dribble. Even Curry would admit he ripped the nets with better consistency and efficiency in the past. Poole developed the personality and mindset of a go-to player and therefore became one. If so, and he delivers, it’s hard to imagine the Warriors being denied another title. Will these fleeting stretches by Klay fly in the NBA Finals? Dare we say it could mean the difference between the Warriors sipping champagne and drowning in sorrows? It smacked of smugness, of forgetting the part about “dumb” luck (like Minnesota passing twice on drafting Steph Curry) and a pinch of arrogance. In that sense, Lacob was right; the franchise is stretching the championship lifespan of its core trio by making the right decisions.

Stephen Curry and the Warriors are back in the NBA Finals for the sixth time in eight years.

Golden State's bid to win the 2019 Finals effectively ended when Thompson tore his ACL. Now, their trip to the 2022 Finals is coming thanks to perhaps the best game of Thompson's postseason. After two years away, one of the greatest heat checks in NBA history will take his talents to the league's biggest stage and compete for his fourth ring. There were moments in the past few months in which it looked like Thompson would struggle to stay on the floor in games like this. In a sense, this is the sort of Finals run Kerr has always wanted to make. LeBron James couldn't do it alone in Cleveland. The Mavericks have done well to surround Doncic with an array of shooters and defenders. The Warriors had more of it than anyone else. The Mavericks hung around early and made a run toward the end of the third quarter to briefly cut the deficit to single digits, but they never led on the night. Curry was the only Warrior to earn All-NBA honors, and they're playing against one of the best players in the NBA. Many teams, under similar circumstances, would've folded without their best player playing at his best. Kevon Looney's 18 rebounds gave the Warriors a plus-17 margin on the glass. The Golden State Warriors are heading back to the NBA Finals for the sixth time in eight seasons. You can attribute Golden State's 3-1 collapse against the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016 to many things, but a hobbled Stephen Curry would be high on that list, so when Curry seemingly tweaked his ankle early in Game 5 with yet another 3-1 lead, Warriors fans had every right to panic. They punched their ticket on Thursday night with a comfortable 120-110 win over the Dallas Mavericks in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals to win the series, 4-1.

Eliminated by the Warriors, what does Dallas need to do to reach the NBA Finals?

Experimenting with giving Dinwiddie the keys for such a plan could be a good start in that regard. But if Dallas could swap out some of those times and places for a few more transition opportunities per game, it could make life a bit easier for everyone. The potential for injury would always seem to be greater the more someone is asked to do. Beyond that, asking so much of Luka on one end almost certainly leaves him with less in the tank on the other. But some give and take would work wonders for the team if it can strike a better balance. And those numbers only increased in the postseason, a stretch in which Dončić used an NBA-high 40% of his team’s possessions. Trades would obviously be necessary to bring in that sort of talent. For his size, at just 6'1", he’s historically efficient as a finisher around the basket and coming off a third season in four years in which he shot an eye-popping 70% or better within three feet of the rim, according to data from Basketball Reference. That was certainly the reality in this series, in which Dallas kept getting beat by Kevon Looney, who’d quietly slip behind the Mavs’ defense after an array of Warriors passes. How much will it cost Dallas to bring back Brunson, the team’s stout, bulldozing guard, who rates as one of the best point guards available in a relatively weak free-agent class? “Obviously after re-signing JB, we’re gonna get together and really focus on the type of J-Kidd player: guys who can guard multiple positions, who are tough, know their role, are physical, that have a motor,” he told Hall of Fame scribe Marc Stein. Perennial MVP candidate Luka Dončić and the Mavs have now reached the playoffs three years in a row.

The Warriors won the best-of-seven Western Conference finals 4-1 and will play either the Boston Celtics or Miami Heat in the finals.

“The common denominator is just talented players who are just fierce competitors,” Kerr said. “We fought until the end. “After being counted out — ‘dynasty is over’ — to get back is fantastic.” “It’s special to do it in our new building,” Curry said. “We’ve laid a foundation. “Such a surreal feeling,” Thompson said.

Zach Harper breaks down the key player and more from Game 5 of the Western Conference finals.

The Celtics have been winning the war of attrition with their march through Milwaukee and possibly Miami. Both the Heat and Celtics are physical, but both teams are beat up, and the Warriors will hope to run them enough to exacerbate their exhaustion even more. The Heat look like they’re struggling to find themselves at the end of the Eastern Conference finals. When Thompson hit that 3-pointer, it pushed the lead to 15 points, and about a minute later, Steph Curry hit a 3-pointer in the corner to increase the lead. 3) Will they feel complacent and like they’ve arrived now that they’ve made the conference finals? They gave up just seven points off turnovers in their Game 5 win to close out the series. Seven of his 18 rebounds came on the offensive end of the floor.