{"id":15380,"date":"2025-05-07T06:55:17","date_gmt":"2025-05-07T06:55:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/15380\/"},"modified":"2025-05-07T06:55:17","modified_gmt":"2025-05-07T06:55:17","slug":"the-warriors-are-trying-to-sell-you-on-game-7-dont-buy-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/15380\/","title":{"rendered":"The Warriors are trying to sell you on Game 7. Don’t buy in"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 Canon Curry, perhaps better than anyone, understood what the Warriors\u2019 loss in Game 6 meant.<\/p>\n

The 6-year-old son of the Warriors\u2019 superstar<\/a> guard just wanted to cry after the Warriors\u2019 embarrassing 115-107 loss to the Rockets<\/a> on Friday night, which forced a Game 7 in Houston.<\/p>\n

Can you blame him?<\/p>\n

Papa Curry tried to comfort his son: \u201cGuess what? We\u2019ve got another game on Sunday \u2026 It\u2019s OK.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the Warriors are already one of 13 teams in NBA history<\/a> to blow a 3-1 playoff series lead, having lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2016 NBA Finals.<\/p>\n

Now, they\u2019re positioned for the heartbreak again on Sunday night.<\/p>\n

So is it really OK, Steph?<\/p>\n

\"GoldenGolden State Warriors\u2019 Stephen Curry (30) chats with his son Canon after Game 6 of the Western Conference First Round NBA Playoffs game at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, May 2, 2025. The Houston Rockets defeated the Golden State Warriors 115-107. (Jose Carlos Fajardo\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

After Friday\u2019s loss, the Warriors tried to talk their way into some level of excitement for Sunday\u2019s win-or-go-home contest. They said all the right things, but it didn\u2019t take a decade-plus of being around the team to know that it was merely lip service.<\/p>\n

The Warriors are scared. They should be.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got Game 7,\u201d Warriors coach Steve Kerr said in a near monotone Friday night. \u201cWe\u2019re excited about that \u2026 We feel like we got a great chance to go down there and win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jimmy Butler even suggested that the Warriors\u2019 confidence was at an \u201call-time high.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did anyone tell him the final score of the game?<\/p>\n

Confidence has betrayed the Warriors in the series. After Golden State won Game 4 at Chase Center, they celebrated as if the series was over. They treated Game 5 in Houston \u2014 a close-out game \u2014 like a preseason affair, looking for any good reason to put their best players on the bench to rest. They figured they\u2019d come home and close out the Rockets Friday.<\/p>\n

Then they didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

And the Warriors can\u2019t even delude themselves into believing that they deserved a win \u2014 Houston was far and away the better team in Game 6, turning a 20-5 run in the first eight minutes of the fourth quarter to pull away in what was, going into the final frame, a two-point game.<\/p>\n

\"GoldenGolden State Warriors\u2019 Draymond Green (23) and Houston Rockets\u2019 Alperen Sengun (28) end up on their backs in the 1st quarter of Game 6 of the Western Conference First Round NBA Playoffs game at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, May 2, 2025. (Karl Mondon\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

What\u2019s left in the tank for Game 7?<\/p>\n

These guys are gassed. Another flight to Houston and a rock-fight game against the league\u2019s premier brawlers is the last thing they need.<\/p>\n

Butler\u2019s bruised glute (yes, that\u2019s the injury) has zapped him of his explosion on the perimeter. Curry has been pushed, prodded and punched so often that he\u2019s taking breathers on the floor after fouls.<\/p>\n

The Warriors missed 14 of their first 15 shots in the fourth quarter Friday. Curry and Butler both went 0-for-5 during that stretch.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Green is back in the 2022 NBA Finals, where he was borderline unplayable, and Kerr is desperately trying to find a role player \u2014 any role player \u2014 who can turn in a good game against one of the NBA\u2019s best defenses and their new go-to, double-big zone scheme.<\/p>\n

No one with the Warriors wanted to say they were tired, but when pressed, they seemed too tired to flatly deny it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can be due to whatever,\u201d Green said. \u201cIn order to beat this team, you got to make second and third efforts. Last two games, we have not done that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is it a coincidence that the Warriors\u2019 last two games have coincided with the series moving to an every-other-day schedule?<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think so.<\/p>\n

The younger Rockets have taken full advantage of this series\u2019 wear-and-tear. And for the Warriors, who were once thinking title, it\u2019s now another flight, another game \u2014 a bit more attrition in this war that we call the playoffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a grind. This is tough. This is what it\u2019s supposed to be in the playoffs, bring the best out of you,\u201d Curry said. \u201cYou earn the right to get to the next round.\u201d<\/p>\n

And while a win on Sunday would certainly beat the alternative, what lessons have the Warriors taken from this first-round series that can serve them well should they advance?<\/p>\n

Every team the Warriors face this postseason will be younger. The schedule \u2014 both in frequency of games and distance traveled \u2014 won\u2019t become any easier. Is a flight to Minneapolis that much better than a flight to Houston?<\/p>\n

\"HoustonHouston Rockets\u2019 Alperen Sengun (28) fouls Golden State Warriors\u2019 Jimmy Butler III (10) in the fourth quarter of Game 6 of the Western Conference First Round NBA Playoffs game at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, May 2, 2025. Sengun would be charged with a flagrant foul on this play. The Houston Rockets defeated the Golden State Warriors 115-107. (Jose Carlos Fajardo\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

We\u2019re seven games into the first round of the playoffs \u2014 the ninth game with playoff-level stakes the Warriors have played in a row \u2014 and it\u2019s still fair to wonder if this team is cut out for the kind of run they want to make?<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s inability to hold onto an actual playoff spot in the final week of the season was certainly inauspicious. Their failure to close out this series without needing a Game 7 tells us even more.<\/p>\n

In a one-game series, like we now have, it\u2019s impossible to bet against the Warriors and Curry. We\u2019ve seen him do too many roundball miracles to expect anything less come Sunday.<\/p>\n

But this might be a classic case of winning the battle but losing the war.<\/p>\n

My favorite trope that apologists trot out in a circumstance like this is the suggestion that at past points in history \u2014 before the season, mid-season, and before this series \u2014 the Warriors would have gladly accepted a Game 7.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s absolutely true. Who wouldn\u2019t have been thrilled for a Game 7 against the Rockets when this Warriors team was middling at best mid-season?<\/p>\n

I suggested the Warriors would win this series in seven games at the start of it.<\/p>\n

But, here\u2019s the thing: context matters. And in that apologist hypothetical, they left out the fact that the Warriors had a 3-1 series lead.<\/p>\n

When you know that, Game 7 takes on a much different meaning.<\/p>\n

And when you fully consider the ramifications of Sunday\u2019s game \u2014 either the end of a season or the continuation of a slow march to a seemingly inevitable loss \u2026<\/p>\n

Well, it\u2019s enough to make you cry.<\/p>\n

Originally Published: May 4, 2025 at 6:00 AM PDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 Canon Curry, perhaps better than anyone, understood what the Warriors\u2019 loss in Game 6 meant.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15381,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3786],"tags":[7,159,160,479,164,4025,4024,155,165,6,161,162,163,66,198,255,158],"class_list":{"0":"post-15380","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golden-state-warriors","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-bay-area","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-golden-state","12":"tag-golden-state-warriors","13":"tag-goldenstate","14":"tag-goldenstatewarriors","15":"tag-inside-sports","16":"tag-latest-headlines","17":"tag-nba","18":"tag-peninsula","19":"tag-san-francisco","20":"tag-san-francisco-county","21":"tag-sports","22":"tag-sports-columnists","23":"tag-warriors","24":"tag-warriors-hq"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114465244712419017","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}