And now, they wait.
Again.
The Golden State Warriors have gotten used to going to the NBA finals, and their win in Portland on Monday night clinched their fifth consecutive trip. They’ve also gotten used to waiting for those finals to begin, with long layoffs after the Western Conference finals having become their norm.
By the time Game 1 of the NBA finals arrives in either Milwaukee or Toronto on May 30, it’ll be a 10-day gap between games for the Warriors. It’s not the longest in NBA history, but it matches the length of the break that the Warriors handled in 2017, and this marks the third time in this five-year run of finals trips that they’ve had at least a week off.
“Happy to get a little rest before we have to play again,” Warriors Coach Steve Kerr said.
It is much-needed rest, too.
The Warriors clinched the series in Portland without Kevin Durant, DeMarcus Cousins and Andre Iguodala – all sidelined by injuries. There’s no way of knowing yet if Durant and Cousins will be back in time for the finals, either. Plenty of other Warriors are dealing with bumps and bruises as well.
Accruing rust is always a major concern during days without games, but the Warriors surely feel the obvious advantage – rest – outweighs any drawbacks right now — especially after they were stretched to seven games by Houston last year in the West finals and only had two days off before the NBA finals.
“We definitely want to get our guys healthy,” Warriors forward Draymond Green said. “We need to get Andre back healthy, DeMarcus and Kevin. We need those guys going into the finals. That’s our hope, that we can get all three of those guys back moving forward.”
Down by 17 with less than two minutes to play in the third quarter at Portland, the easiest thing for the Warriors would have been to let off the gas and try to clinch the series at Oracle Arena on Wednesday night.
Instead, they turned a 95-78 deficit into a 119-117 overtime win – outscoring the Blazers 41-22 in the final 19 minutes of the game.
“We could have said Game 5 was our game,” Warriors star Stephen Curry said. “But we saw how long that break was going to be and we wanted to take advantage of it.”
It’s a long break, for certain. But it’s not a record-setting one.
The longest gap between the conference finals and NBA finals came in 1982, when the Los Angeles Lakers sat around for 12 days before beginning their series against Philadelphia.
PELICANS: Basketball operations chief David Griffin asserted Tuesday that luring new general manager Trajan Langdon away from a playoff team in Brooklyn is an example of positive momentum in New Orleans that should make Anthony Davis reconsider his trade request.
Griffin said he hopes to meet with Davis in Los Angeles, where Davis has an offseason home, around the time player agents are hosting workouts in southern California for clients that are eligible for the NBA’s June 20 draft.
“We’ll definitely visit. And I think that’s the next step – really to look each other in the eye and talk about what’s important to us,” Griffin said during a conference call with the newly hired Langdon and reporters. “We’re very optimistic from previous conversations with Rich Paul, his agent, and with all of the people here that know Anthony and know what he’s about, we’re very confident that we have a compelling situation for him here.
Davis, a six-time All-Star who is under contract one more season, requested a trade in late January, and his future will be one of the dominant stories of the upcoming NBA offseason.
AWARDS: With Dallas’ Luka Doncic and Atlanta’s Trae Young leading the way, the top five NBA draft picks from 2018 have been selected as the top five NBA rookies this season.
Doncic and Young were unanimous first-team selections for the NBA All-Rookie team, which was announced Tuesday. Phoenix’s Deandre Ayton, Memphis’ Jaren Jackson and Sacramento’s Marvin Bagley III are also on the first team, which was chosen by 100 voters who cover the league.
Ayton, Bagley, Doncic, Jackson and Young were the first five picks in the last year’s draft.
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