OAKLAND — Soft-spoken, somber and sleep deprived, the three most integral members of the Golden State Warriors met one last time at their team facility, before bouncing into a summer of uncertainty.
For Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, the burden of losing a championship felt worst the next morning than it did the night of. None of them slept. None of them thought about watching the gut-wrenching film from Game 7, a scoreless final four minutes that’ll eat away at their insides. Curry said he hasn’t been able to turn on the TV.
In a span of nine days the Warriors went from on the verge of repeating as champs, to being fully exposed as a team with damaging flaws. No team has ever won 88 total games; no team without a title can ever be considered an all-time great.
“It was a rough night,” Curry said, and he recognized the criticism surrounding his play is only beginning. “I’ll take it on the chin.”
“We still feel like we’re still the best team in the world, and we let that slide,” Thompson said.
“I’m not going to throw a pity party for myself,” said Green, who seemed to be taking the loss a little bit more in stride than the Splash Brothers.
A promising basketball team with clear aspirations on reclaiming their throne as the NBA’s best, there’s a litany of issues now at stake for the future of the Warriors. Every strength Golden State flaunted not too long ago has been unmasked. It’s like they are standing naked in in packed auditorium. Knit-picking is going to be at an all-time high with this team. It should be.
The lineup of death is solvable. Oracle Arena is no longer some heavenly sanctuary opponents fear. When the moment gets bigger, Curry can’t be counted on to walk on water, like he does during the regular season. He’s human. Opposing offenses have figured out an effective formula to attack Curry on defense, tiring him on both ends of the floor. Green let his emotions get the best of him one too many times and it’ll be a fine balance for him to channel the proper energy. Thompson, who has the best postseason of anyone on the team, will have to rethink his regular season minutes. He looked gassed by the end of the NBA Finals.
“We hadn’t struggled all season, it just came at a bad time,” Green said.
The Warriors are going to have to evolve. Changes will be necessary. Draymond hit the nail on the head.
“What do you do to make sure it doesn’t happen again?” Green said. “It’s the NBA. It’s the business we live in. I don’t know who will be here and who won’t.”
Without coming out and saying it, the Warriors power trio seems very open and willing for roster changes. Not that they weren’t aided by depth throughout the year, but Golden State needs to tinker around with some pieces to create more favorable matchups in the playoffs against Oklahoma City, and of course, the all-but looming Finals rematch with Cleveland.
The core is intact. There’s not a scarier threesome in the NBA than Curry-Thompson-Green. Andrew Bogut, Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston will be back, all at relatively bargain prices. It’s restricted the free agent role players, Harrison Barnes and Festus Ezeli, who’ll conjure fervent debates about whether their return is worth it — especially with an elevating salary cap. Both disappointed heavily in Game 7 and if they do so a year later, the Warriors will have dug themselves their own grave.
It sounds like the Warriors aren’t internally as worried about team chemistry as originally perceived. Losing a championship will destroy that narrative into pieces. Imagine Barnes being the highest paid player on the roster. Finances that out of whack are hard for players to ignore.
In the present moment, though, the wound is still too fresh. It’s the kind of sting that’ll take a month or two to completely wash away. It’s still too early to even comprehend names like Kevin Durant, Joakim Noah or Nicolas Batum.
Thompson said he wanted nothing to do with basketball for a week, hoping to instead go outdoors and watch his brother Trayce play in the outfield for the Dodgers. Curry said his daughter Riley put things into perspective for him. Green? He has no plans on taking a sabbatical and when talking about competing for an Olympic gold medal, his eye lit up.
“It doesn’t start next season: it starts now,” Green said. “I got age 35-70 to rest. I’ll work now.”
The finer details are unclear for the Warriors. The big picture remains bright with Curry, Thompson and Green. And once the bitterness fades of this title loss to Cleveland, the strain of returning as champions will ultimately rest on these three star players’ shoulders.