SAN FRANCISCO -- Fine is the line between confidence and arrogance in the NBA playoffs, and the Warriors were dancing all over the border while rubbing their bruises after a stunning collapse in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
“We pretty much dominated the game for the first 41, 42 minutes,” Draymond Green said minutes after the 120-108 loss Thursday night. “So, we'll be fine.”
Klay Thompson, looking back on Game 1, made a similar statement Saturday after practice.
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“We played about 40 great minutes,” he said.
These statements deny the facts. The Warriors won the first quarter by four, lost the second by six and won the third by 14. After 40 minutes, they had a 94-92 lead. They were in good position. They were not “great” and certainly had not “dominated.”
Confidence inspires faith, and the team’s proud and accomplished veterans -- Stephen Curry, Green and Thompson -- should and do have a reservoir of that.
But arrogance can foster delusion.
Golden State Warriors
Game 2 on Sunday presents the opportunity for the Warriors which description best fits them. It’s not a so-called “must-win” game, but it is one in which an emphatic positive answer to the Game 1 debacle is required to have a realistic chance to take the series.
“It's really important to turn the page one way or the other,” coach Steve Kerr said. “If you win and you get happy and you let your guard down, then you're in trouble. And if you lose and you feel sorry for yourself, then you're in trouble doing that, too.
“It's all about how you respond.”
To be sure, the three-ring vets at the core of Golden State’s roster have earned the right to believe they’ll find solutions and recover. Curry, Thompson and Green have done it before, as recently as last month. For a splash of reality, we turn to Curry.
“Look at how we responded from Game 5 to Game 6 in the Memphis series, Game 4 to 5 in the Dallas series,” he said.
Let’s look. In their first chance to close out the Memphis Grizzles in the Western Conference semifinals, the Warriors lost by 39. In their second chance, they won by 14. In their first chance to oust the Dallas Mavericks in the conference finals, the Warriors lost by 10. Their response was a 10-point win to advance to the Finals.
Thompson acknowledged that even “40 great minutes” are not enough to ensure victory for the Warriors. Not in the Finals. Not against these Boston Celtics, who swept the Brooklyn Nets in the first round, eliminated the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference semifinals and outlasted the top-seeded Miami Heat in the conference finals.
“We are going to play with desperation tomorrow,” he said. “And I think that's when we are at our best.”
The Warriors won three in a row against both the Denver Nuggets and Mavericks. They won two straight against Memphis. To win the Finals, they’ll have to, at some point, post consecutive victories over Boston. The Celtics have not lost consecutive games since January.
Winning Game 2 would put the Warriors back in the series. It would not put them in favorable position.
“Even moments throughout the regular season where things are starting to get away from us a little bit at times and you kind of have your come-to-Jesus moment, like we need to play right,” Curry said. “How are we going to flip the script and get things back on the right track?
“We usually responded pretty well. It's a collective effort of a focus on the defensive end first and foremost, and just an understanding of how we all work together to create good shots from the offensive end.”
This is Curry being real.
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“We have to come out with a sense of desperation in the first quarter and really cement ourselves in terms of what we are trying to do,” he said. “Play with the same joy, the same aggressiveness that we always do, but have to sustain it over 48. It's crazy saying that. That's what it should be like in the Finals with two great teams going at it.”
The Warriors are in trouble, but it’s uncertain how deeply everyone recognizes that. The first step to getting out of trouble is accepting they’re in trouble. It shouldn’t take long in Game 2 to discover if they actually feel the urgency.
Kerr, aware of the Warriors downplaying the events of Game 1, expresses confidence that they can discern the difference between dismissing and dwelling.
”I don't think anything was said with any sort of disrespect or whatever,” Kerr said. “It's nothing like that. We know how good Boston is and we have great respect for the way they played.”
Asked if this was a “come-to-Jesus moment” for the Warriors, Curry’s reply was a single word appropriate in the context: “Absolutely.”