“I’ve always said all along, no one has proven they can beat us yet when we’re whole,” Draymond Green said. “That’s still the case.”
There’s levels to Green’s comment. With this appearance, the Warriors become the first team to reach the NBA Finals six times in an eight-season span since the Michael Jordan-Scottie Pippen Bulls from 1991 to 1998. Those Bulls went to six finals in two three-year increments and won all of them — the two-year hiatus was mainly caused by Jordan’s baseball experiment with the White Sox.
“Never doubt what we are capable of,” Green said. “As we saw the year going on, you can see like, man, this team is capable of putting a great run together. We’ve continued to get better, continued to grow, different guys stepping up each night.” “This time last year I was starting to jog again and get on the court,” Thompson said, adding that his emotions swelled as he thought of head trainer Rick Celebrini and the staff coaxing him through his “terrible mood” doing tedious exercises. Every one of those 1,000 calf-raises per day paid off.
On top of the costly injuries was a key roster move that altered the Warriors’ landscape after 2019. Detractors said the dynasty was dead with Kevin Durant’s departure for Brooklyn. Though Durant’s shoes are impossible to fill, the Warriors’ front office added Andrew Wiggins, Otto Porter Jr. and Gary Payton II, called on Jordan Poole and shifted focus. While losses were hard to come by with Durant in tow, the Warriors’ core had to re-learn how to win with a new look.