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HOUSTON – This was not a championship party. But it was close.
As each player went into the locker room of the Golden State Warriors after their elimination win in Game 6 from 118 to 118 against the Houston Rockets in the semifinal of the Western Conference on Friday, waves of howls, applause and backtracking took place. Eleven of them had played and nine of them had scored. Everyone had a moment to be appreciated.
"Big bounce." "Great to have that lost ball." "A huge putback."
As each man entered the room, he would turn around and wait for the next, forming a group at the end of a tunnel of coaches, staff members and support staff. The so-called "core four" came last, like a wedding party that starts a rock reception.
First, Andre Iguodala, then Draymond Green, holding hands and hugging each other very hard. Then Klay Thompson, who happily barked in a rare form of the stoic star. Finally, Stephen Curry, his throbbing left hand as a result of a left-finger injury, a pair of 4-year-old shoes on his feet and a broad smile on his face after one of the weirdest nights and the most wonderful things in his life. career.
"This was one of the best victories of our nine years as an owner," said Joe Lacob, owner of Warriors, who has won three championship trophies.
Understanding this feeling requires nuances. The Warriors were delighted with the win as they defeated their rival at home, sending the Rockets into a miserable off-season for a second consecutive year and a fourth time in five years.
And because the warriors had done it without Kevin Durant, who was back in the California Bay Area, was undergoing treatment for a calf injury that would have been a defining moment in this series. It turned out that this was not the case.
That's Winston Churchill who advised never to lose a good crisis. Since the collapse, the Warriors players formed Wednesday night when Durant limped up the tunnel, which is exactly what they did. Instead of pouting or collapsing, the Warriors have created a complex moment of nostalgia, demand and appreciation in recent days.
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The Warriors use a good ball movement, then Klay Thompson reverses a difficult 3 at the end of the fourth.
It was not sinister. Durant was there both spiritually and virtually. His uniform was hanging from his traditional Toyota Center locker. People were texting him, sending him photos and FaceTiming.
But without Durant actually playing, the achievement magnified. The Warriors had not won a series without Durant for three years. They have not won a title without him since 2015, the version of shoes that Curry has released storage in a movement both motivating and symbolic.
"I wanted to look into it," said Curry about choosing the shoe, a nod to the widespread expectation that he was waiting to return to a version of himself prior to During.
Those in the locker room will tell you that this five-year season at the top has been the toughest. The combination of mental fatigue, uncertainty and tension drained the pleasure of this trip. Some players may talk about it in their memoirs or, in the modern spirit, talk about it in documentaries produced by their own media companies.
Naturally, the warriors allowed themselves to think of a world without Durant the next season after his appearance on the scene in the agency. After jokes and discussions about exhausted families, Durant's future has been a topic of conversation for months in every corner of the NBA. And it will be in the future.
The Warriors know that it is an essential part of their champion makeup and they really want it to stay. But, of course, they believe – especially those in the four core – that they can still hunt without him. They all have egos. They all learned to remove them for the sake of the whole.
But this 2015 title ring remains the most special. You never forget your first time.
For this victory to materialize as follows:
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Iguodala broke Houston's defensive strategy by scoring three shots at three points.
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Green is approaching another triple-double.
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Thompson exploded for a whopping first period of 21 points.
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Curry had one of the best moments of his career with 23 points in the fourth quarter.
All this has revived this old flame of "strength of the number".
Combined with victory in Game 5 when the Warriors defeated Durant's injury with Curry's late-game exploits, let's just say coach Steve Kerr's post-match nickname, "F — ing giants, "was heard in the locker room.
Find everything you need to know about the playoffs here.
As was the name of Chris Paul, surrounded by accursed words. The warriors loved this victory and they still like to beat Paul.
"I'm very proud of our team, that's for sure," said Curry. "It's huge."
The rapprochement despite its exhaustion – it is easy to forget that Golden State is located downtown, DeMarcus Cousins, was to play a decisive role in this series when he joined the team – has only amplified the injury inflicted on the Rockets.
It's not that the Rockets played badly by losing this series 4-2 – James Harden scored 35 points, a top in the game, despite 10 of his first 15 shots. He achieved his best game of the series with 27 points and six assists. It is rather that if the opportunities arose, the Rockets could not play so well as a team. There is a chance that the defect will eat them for a long time. Combined with the lack of last season, it has the potential to be damaging in the long run.
When they were offered the same opportunity, the Warriors played very well, especially during the last quarter of an hour under the spell in which Curry scored three shots on goal and his defense allowed Houston without scoring for nearly four minutes.
"This one will leave a mark," said Rockets coach Mike D & # 39; Antoni.
Appropriately, that's exactly what the Warriors were trying to do.
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