” Honestly, there was no obvious strategic change”, detailed Steve Kerr in 2017. ” Sometimes it is, like in the series against Cleveland in 2015 or the series against Memphis. Putting Andrew Bogut on Tony Allen is important but it makes sense. In the series against Cleveland, we say to ourselves that we must establish Andre Iguodala to rule out the field. Facing OKC, there was no such move to make. We just had to play better and they were so hard to play.
Stephen Curry slowed down by injuries, the entire Golden State team was stuttering, with Draymond Green struggling against the opposing frontcourt: Kevin Durant, Serge Ibaka and Steven Adams…
” Few teams can make Draymond look like a small winger but their inside line was huge”confirms Klay Thompson.
The second “Splash Brother” will have to catch fire with 41 points at 11/18 from afar and 3-point shots crazier than each other to keep his team alive in a match that OKC seemed to master. The owner of the club, Joe Lacob, will only be able to kneel in front of his shooter after the meeting…
A watershed moment for Kevin Durant’s signing at Golden State?
” I just remember that I said to myself: ‘We took the hand’, explains Steve Kerr. ” Everything had changed. We got out of it by a miracle but I knew we were going to take care of things at home..
Such a decisive moment… for the history between Golden State and Kevin Durant. ” I don’t believe he would have come to our house if we had won the title or if they had beaten us.” confirms the coach. “Who knows what would have happened in the Finals between them and Cleveland? Who knows if he would have felt like joining us after joining the Finals? My gut tells me everything lined up and he signed with us as a result of everything that happened”.
The birth of “Game 6 Clay”
For his part, the winger does not want to rewrite history.
This Game 6, however, seems to have indeed changed the destiny of Golden State. For Klay Thompson, it is in any case a moment of apotheosis. But he admitted to having never really thought about the consequences of his performance, with the repercussions on the arrival of Kevin Durant during the summer.
” I don’t really think about what happened next, because it’s crazy.”, confessed Klay Thompson. ” Because when I watch, it adds pressure to every shot. It’s amazing how everything lined up afterwards. I think everything was supposed to be like this. It was fate”.
In the process, the Warriors will in any case win Game 7 at home to qualify for the Finals… which they will finally lose against the Cavaliers of LeBron James, after having in turn led 3-1.
