The Champion’s Heart: The Warriors Rule Hell

Now yes: the Warriors finally win at Arco Arena. Away from home, something they are doing for only the 12th time this season after the very poor record (11-30) achieved in this regard during the regular season. And with that they don’t just get home field advantage and the real chance of closing out the series in Game 6, at the Chase Center (where they have, by the way, a 33-8 record). They also manage to extend a record that was already theirs, the one for the most consecutive playoff qualifiers winning at least one game away from home. They are already, with this, 28 rounds doing it, part of a historic dynasty, the last that the NBA has seen and that continues to go from strength to strength at full sail, maintains its essence, seems not to age and is an essential part of being aware of what It is the best league in the world. The Warriors have also won every Western Conference series they’ve been in since 2015 (they missed the 2020 and 2021 playoffs).. A streak that they can continue to extend if they finish off the Kings at home. They will do it? It’s what they want Of course.

You had to win away from home to go to the round and they have done so. Finally, after much suffering, the Warriors have conquered the very Arco Arena, a pressure cooker similar to hell, a crazy crowd for the return to the playoffs of theirs 16 years later. A gargantuan crisis that ends here and an outstanding season whether or not they pass the round, with Domantas Sabonis and D’Aaron Fox in the All Star, Mike Brown as Coach of the Year and a squad that promises to give war in the nearest future. The series is not finished, but it is hard to think that the Warriors will not pass after what has been achieved, with a lot of suffering, today. And many will remember, surely, of that triple missed by Harrison Barnes at the end of the fourth game that would have put the Kings 3-1, giving them a virtual pass to the semifinals. It is a rationalization after the fact. Totally absurd and entirely advantageous. But there it is.

The Warriors won in case anyone doubted them and for something so definitive that Rudy Tomjanovich He said in 1995, after the achievement of the second ring for Hakeem Olajuwon’s Rockets, who that year started as the sixth wound and won the title without having a home field advantage in any round: “Never underestimate the heart of a champion”. The phrase, one of the most important in the history of an NBA full of famous quotes, perfectly defines the Warriors, who without being the team of the best years of the dynasty (2015-19), still have the memory of the victories of the past and are handled with total precision and a lot of passion in extreme situations. It’s what led them to win the championship last year and what keeps them contenders today.. Just becauseThey are applicants. Let no one doubt it.

D’Aaron Fox’s 24 points, 7 rebounds and 9 assists were useless, in a commendable performance that came to fruition with a fractured finger. He forced without luck, but that defines him as a player. Domantas went to 21 points and 10 rebounds, but 5 turnovers. Harrison Barnes had 13, Keegan Murray 10, Kevin Huerter 9 and Malik Monk 21 off the bench.. The Kings stayed true to his style, but they also died with him: 10 of 34 on 3-pointers, under 30%. Too predictable and somewhat tired, now without the conviction or faith of the first two games and thinking excessively about that triple from Barnes that flew like opportunities that will never return. Another differential factor was the losses: up to 19 were committed by the localsan embarrassing figure in a problem that was that of the Warriors (who lost 14) in the two initial duels and that today has been theirs.

To get the victory, the Warriors rowed little by little until they got a 9-point lead at the end of the third period (90-99). The maximum of the match was 12 (93-105, in the final period) and there the current champions knew how to handle themselves well, who controlled the attacks of a rival who came too close (It was a 112-115 with less than 3 minutes to go), but it lacked the bellows to turn the light around. Stephen Curry went to 31 points (10 in the last quarter) and 8 assists, Klay Thompson reached 25 (5 of 11 in triples), Andrew Wiggins to 20; and Draymond Green, again from the bench, put together a fabulous performance: 21+4+7, with 4 steals and 1 block, 8 of 19 from the field and +13 with him on court. Of course, the game was marked by Kevon Looney: 4 points, 22 rebounds (7 offensive) and 7 assists. A masterful game in the area, a very good defense against Sabonis and a superb ability to march his team in the trenches. The Warriors win away from home. And they have match point at the Chase Center. They have achieved it: with effort, suffering, work. And a lot of heart, of course. the one with the champion.