Trey Thompson!

The best 2 guard in the NBA saved the Golden State Warriors' season tonight. After stinking up the joint in OKC twice to go down 3-1, the dubs season seemed doomed. We expected them to win game 5 at home, but sooner than later, they had to go back into OKC for this game 6. Nobody knew what to expect and the smart money was on the Thunder closing this one out and sending the dubs' 73 win season to an unceremonious and premature end. The concern for the dub-nation was not that they lost 2 road playoff games - that happens sometimes, but how they lost those. They were dominated and Thunder's length and athleticism seemed to bother and throttle the best team in the league. Draymond has been completely off the entire series and Curry has been mostly off. Draymond had a tough job going against players 3 to 6 inches taller who are also more athletic than him. He usually has some kind of an edge on one of these aspects against his opponents, but not in this one. Curry is usually impervious to any kind of defense and it's even hard to say what can ever slow that dude down. But he is definitely slowed down this series by the combination of Westbrook and their lanky, athletic defenders on switches. Given all this, they barely won game 5 even at home and it was not clear if they can get that one win they need on the road and force a game 7 at home.

But one man will not have any of these doubts and theories and decided to go down firing on all cylinders. It was the younger and understated splash brother. Klay Thompson single handedly kept the dubs in the game all night. The dubs problems from the previous games seemed to be all there in the first half and well into the fourth quarter - turnovers, thunder's offensive rebounding, sub-par shooting by Curry, strong outing by Durant and Russ, etc. etc. etc. Klay himself started with some rough shooting, but quickly turned it around. He then went on many runs of his own and looked every bit like the MVP when Curry is on one of his crazy rolls. Klay has been fighting and showing up every game this series and almost single-handedly brought them back in game 4 but the hole was too deep to dig out of. Today, the Warriors didn't let the Thunder run away. Thunder always led by 5 to 13 points and it seemed like the dubs can't close in and take the lead. Klay kept shooting and shooting for a playoff record 11 threes. Some of them where from Curry range and most of them were contested and almost all of them featured his ridiculously quick release. I was amazed more by his courage than his accuracy. He took some shots with this record-breaking season hanging in a balance and with the entire world watching. He just rose up and kept making treys.

Klay's shot from way out there at the top with less than 5 mins to go with the dubs trailing 96-89 and the other 3 from the wing to un-tie the game and give the dubs the lead with 1:35 to go after a Iguodala steal  were both season-saving treys. KD and Russ are getting killed tonight for playing "hero ball" as they had a tough shooting night and OKC also collapsed at the end. This finish was part Thunder's ineptitude and part dubs' brilliance. But Klay kept the dubs in the game all night and Curry joined him at the end to kick off the splash show. The rest of the team D'ed up with key contributions as always from Andre Iguodala on both ends of the floor. The thing that makes Klay the best shooting guard in the league is his defense in addition to his marksmanship. The guy is relentless and is never tired. He chases the best wing player on the other team at one end and constantly moves without the ball on offense with no sign of ever tiring. Sure, the attention Curry attracts on offense helps him, but on nights like these, the reverse is true too. Klay is one of the best shooters in the history of the game, but just the second best shooter in his own team. So it's easy to overlook him. I am glad he is finally getting the props he deserves as many talking heads like Marc Stein and the Chuckster are starting to call him the best 2-way 2 guard in the league. James Harden can score at will, but he also gives up half of those at the other end with no effort. Klay is way more of a complete player at that shooting guard spot. Tonight, he got the dubs that coveted game 7 at home. Now they have to finish the job. It's not going to be easy as Durant and Westbrook fear no one and slow down for nobody. But I expect the dub nation to close it out at home.

Ex-Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich gave us this memorable quote during their second championship run - "Don't ever underestimate the heart of a champion!" Warriors seem to be adding to that legend. Game 6 was a question mark. Klay made it an exclamation point with a signature, breakout playoff performance to the tune of 41 points. Game 7 can't be this hard for the Warriors if they keep their calm. Can't wait!

Drub Nation

The dubs were punched in the mouth today. This has never happened to the Steve Kerr era Warriors in the playoffs and in this magical season, not even in the regular season. The closest game that comes to mind is the 32 point drubbing they suffered at Portland right after the all-star game. Of course this game today carried way more gravitas than that mid-season contest. Not only was this a playoff loss, it was game 3 of the Western conference finals with the Warriors having split the previous 2 home games. Dubs need a road split to restore home court and they got the exact opposite tonight. They weathered the storm in the early first quarter and handled the energy boost OKC enjoyed being in front of their crowd, which is typical for home teams in such situations. They played decent defense, though the Thunder kept making shots and on offense, they had their opportunities and converted a good portion of them. They admirably tied the game at 40-40 in the second quarter and the game looked set for a fantastic finish, even a victory for the defending champs.

And then the bottom underneath the Warriors caved in and the game got out of control in a hurry. Ron Burgundy's "that escalated quickly" is the best line to describe what happened. Thunder ambushed the dubs and the champs looked rattled and helpless for the first time all season. Thunder defended better, ran faster, shot better, dunked more ferociously, and you could see their confidence was growing with every possession. All you need to know is, Dion Waiters was unstoppable and he was probably the 5th best Thunder on the floor. To be fair to Dion, he has had a great playoff run and the Thunder seem to go as he and the other role players go. There is no stopping Durant and Westbrook most of the time and the Thunder are unstoppable if some combination of Waiters, Roberson, Ibaka, and Foye are hitting 3s. On the other side, Kerr said Draymond is the heart and soul of the Warriors sometime last season and is still very true. They do not do well when he has a bad game and when they don't play good defense. Those two things are usually related since he is also one of their best defenders. Tonight, Draymond had a horrible game and their defense was impotent to say the least. This combination resulted in a serious drubbing.

But Draymond stole the headline for one big, wrong reason. He was fouled on a drive to the hoop by Steven Adams and he ended up kicking Adams in the groin as he was flailing and throwing his leg around. The score was 48-40 when that happened and seemed to ignite the 32-7 run to end the half and basically the game. More importantly, the key question now is, is Green going to be suspended? That leg kicking is a common move by guys to attract the attention of the referee to call a foul. But in this case, I did feel like his leg went a little higher and looked slightly unnatural. But I have to agree with Draymond in that it looked to me like he didn't even knew what went down and seemed to just walk away without even looking at Adams. So I am not sure how intentional it was. But the impact was a painful blow to Adams' privates and a similar incident caused Cleveland's Dahntay Jones' suspension. A Green suspension will definitely put the Warriors behind the eight ball in a series where all of a sudden, they look like the inferior team even with him. It's amazing how quickly perception changes and a poll on ESPN tonight places the dubs in the third place to win the championship after the Cavs and the Thunder.

As a long-suffering Suns fan who lost a real shot at championship in 2007 when Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw got suspended when they left the bench, I would hate a playoff series to be decided by suspensions. Also, this is not a cut-and-dry situation that David Stern wanted the "leaving the bench" scenario to be. There is some wiggle room here for the league to not suspend Green for this. But they are in a tough spot too because they just suspended Dahntay Jones and this is the second time in 3 games Green has connected with Adams' privates. It's going to be very interesting and Green's suspension is the last thing the dubs need. They are already looking very vulnerable with the drubbing they received today which was very reminiscent of how they usually beat other teams. Steven Adams has been a key in this series for the Thunder, actually throughout these entire playoffs, and he changes a lot of the Warrior shots and passes in the interior. But they also outplayed the Warriors in small ball during that avalanche of a run in the second quarter. Experts are now saying the Thunder basically looked like the better team with their athleticism and speed even against the so-called death lineup.

When you see something you have not seen all season, you wonder if this is something different, special, and more indicative of a larger trend or problem. Game 1 was about the dubs having a sub-par fourth quarter and missing 9 out of 10 threes. They still were just down by 3 in the final minutes and you figured if they shoot better and fix a few things, they will be fine. Thats exactly what happened in game 2. But this loss was different from that game 1. The dubs were down by 41 at one point and looked completely outclassed at both ends of the floor. This game can only boost OKC's confidence ad drive them to greater heights even if the champs are strong enough to not let this plant doubts in them. They have been down 2-1 in the past, but it looks different this time because this Thunder team is better than any other team the dubs have played over the 2 playoff runs. Last year's Grizzlies and Cavs team lost the next 3 games to lose the series after owning the aforementioned 2-1 lead. It's highly unlikely this Thunder team is headed in that direction. Warriors need Green in game 4 to have a shot. If not, they may be playing to avoid a 3 game losing streak themselves soon. At the end of the day, it is just one blowout and the series is just 2-1, but it does feel more dire now. Can't wait for game 4 so we learn more about these two teams.

Up north, the Raptors will show us tomorrow if they are for real or if they are just setting us up for one of those typical 5-game sweeps with a token home win that we see all the time in the NBA playoffs.

Unanimous!

Stephen Curry has impeccable timing and a flair for the dramatic. He had one week for the ages. He came back from his injury on Monday and after looking rusty through the game, just took over and dominated the overtime to the tune of 17 points in 5 minutes. That flurry clinched game 4 for the Warriors and hence the series. They sure could not have won that game without Curry. Van Gundy was wondering during the previous game if Curry and Dame were just about the same and I guess he got his answer. Seventeen points in 5 mins became the biggest news in sports right in time for his MVP coronation the next day. The voting ends with the regular season - it's the regular season MVP after all, and nothing would have changed, but we might have heard some murmurs about Curry's MVP'ness if he was still injured and the dubs were doing well without him when the announcement came out. How valuable can he be for the league if his own team barely misses him? It's not a fair question because this is one of the deepest and versatile teams in the league and it's a credit to that team that they can manage without him. But some talking heads are stupid enough to misconstrue this playoff run as proof that Curry is not all that he is made out to be. Curry put an end to all that talk even before it started by showing up, setting a historic OT record, and totally showing the world what he can do even when rusty.

Even Charles Barkley on TNT was left speechless. He bumped this Curry performance over LeBron's 29 out of the last 30 points against the Pistons in the 2007 playoffs. I saw both live on TV and I have to say, despite me being a bigger fan of Curry than LeBron at this point and any possible recency bias, I have to give a slight edge to the 22-year old LeBron's performance in 2007. May be I am spoiled by the 15 to 20 point scoring binges Curry and even Klay routinely go on with this dubs team. Regardless of how we rank these, we are lucky to be watching these exemplary performances. I do have to say it's easier to enjoy this type of greatness when we support the team and the player or at least are neutral and have no dog in the fight. I can't even imagine how the Portland fans felt when Curry went that crazy! I guess owner Paul Allen's expression said it all. Blazers did fight all the way to the bitter end as it took another awesome dagger 3 by Curry at the end to wrap up game 5 at home. He did it on the night he was presented with the MVP in front of the home fans. It was an unanimous MVP award and deservingly so.

There were a few murmurs about the unanimity of his selection. Tracy McGrady somehow took that as a sign that the league's talent is watered down. League's talent level fluctuates. Of course when Michael Jordan was playing, the peak was at it's highest and then when he retired, the peak dropped. But then again the depth of top talent might be a different story to analyze.  I don't know if I have all this calibrated except to say MJ was the best ever, and neither has Tracy McGrady. There is a little bit of a dip in the talent right now as LeBron, Wade, and Carmelo are beginning to slow down and Kobe and Tim Duncan are completely done. The younger ones like Dame Lillard, Wiggins, KAT, and Anthony Davis are barely developing. There is still ample talent in it's prime and Durant and Westbrook come to mind along with LeBron. But Curry is the best of the best right now and there can be no argument against his unanimous selection. It's not his problem that some nut-job reporter or 2 in the past years screwed up unanimous selections of Shaq and others. All we can say now is, Curry's unanimous selection is well deserved. He led the league in scoring, which is the primary MVP stat, and also steals per game. The team won a record-setting 73 games.

Playing for the best team - check. Best player in the best team - check. Best player in the league right now - check. Most exciting player in the league - check. A ridiculous, record-setting 405 3-pointers in a season - check. Thats an unanimous MVP to me. Not sure what more TMac wants. LeBron then came out and said a few things about the differences between the best player in the league and the MVP of the team, etc. I was a little confused and I am not even sure if he was dissing Curry, but these things are always going to be misconstrued and it is being interpreted as anti-Curry, at least in the Bay. There seems to be some resentment of Curry's accolades among players and ex-players and it's hard to understand. MVP votes are cast by the writers. They are a key stake-holder and so are the players, coaches, and fans. Each group has their own perspective and we have to respect them all. But I do think the player's perspective is too skewed in favor of athleticism, one-on-one skills, and individual scoring ability. Curry is not the raw athlete that these players are used to looking up to. The players are good in judging things like the dunk contests and I am happy they are not voting for the MVP. No wonder they voted for James Harden - a player who doesn't even try to play defense, over Curry in their poll last year. The coaches' and even the writers' perspective works better for awards like the MVP and the writers unanimously picked the right one this time.

All this doubting and chatter make it doubly important for the dubs to win it all this year to legitimize Curry's awards as well as the 73-win record. That chapter continues next week with a fascinating series against the Thunder.

Dame Dolla on Fire

Stephen Curry was not available for the Warriors this weekend for game 3 in Portland. But there was somebody who looked awfully similar to him on the court who was scoring at will. Unfortunately for the dubs, it was the Blazer's Damian Lillard. I am a big Dame Dolla fan. The kid from Oakland who wears 0 for the O always plays well against his home town team. He is not the shooter that Curry is - nobody is, but when his three is falling like it was in game 3, he is not that different. He has the handles, quickness, and even plays a more traditional point than Curry. And he showed us in this game that he can also take and make long-range, off-the-dribble threes like the MVP. Even Jeff Van Gundy on ESPN was very impressed by his off-the-dribble shooting and was loudly wondering if Lillard and Curry could be traded for each other without either team missing a beat. Thats high praise for Dame. Klay is a good defender and he tried his best to contain Dame, but he had no shot on this day. This is how folks must have felt defending Curry all season. 

Aside from the Oakland angle, Damian also has the "all-star snub" chip on his shoulder, especially against Curry and Klay who were both western all-stars ahead of him.  That explains the Blazers faithful yelling "over-rated" at Klay during the game. Dame and CJ are also in the running for the best back-court in the league crown that firmly belongs to Curry and Klay today. Mix in the narrative of Klay being a 2-way star and shutting Dame down in game 2, you had a potent cocktail that probably drove Dame sky high in game 3. He showed up, stepped up, and locked up a win. Now the Curry injury saga is back again on the front-burner. It's amazing how good the Warriors are that they can stage manage their best player's return even in the second round of the western conference playoffs. With each win, people assume Curry will be rested one more game and with each loss, people wonder if Curry will be inserted into the next game. Lets see if we finally see the MP3 in game 4. 

Curry-Klay versus Dame-CJ is going to be a fascinating rivalry for years to come. But then again, such projections about future greatness are always a hit or miss. Reminds me of a game in 2003 between the dubs and Suns featuring a young Gilbert Arenas, Jason Richardon, and Antawn Jamison on one-side and a young Amare Stoudemire,  Stephon Marbury, and Shawn Marion on the other. Everybody was talking about how this might be the two young, fast, fun teams of the future. The dubs couldn't retain Arenas and that was the end of that short-lived era. The Suns let go for Marbury too, but they did improve with Nash. But a rivalry, it was not.  I was salivating about a LeBron-Wade rivalry before LeBron killed it and became Wade's Scottie Pippen for 4 prime years. Ironically, they might renew their rivalry in the senior citizen mode in the next round if Miami wins against Toronto - a big IF. The Cavs have looked really impressive after 2 straight sweeps. Their 3-point shooting has become more of a news in the playoffs than even the Warriors, who are without Curry's threes so far. 

It's going to be an interesting matchup if the Cavs and dubs meet in the finals again. The Cavs are a very different team from last year and both teams are going to be shooting threes all night. You would think nobody can beat the dubs in that game, though the Cavs are becoming a trendy pick for the championship. They have definitely looked good and the big-3 are finally playing with some confidence and chemistry. Ironically, LeBron is shooting bricks, but the rest of the team is shooting lights out. Plus LeBron does so many other things, he still is the king. The Spurs-Thunder series seems headed to 7 games with the Thunder winning tonight behind Durant's 41. I still don't trust the Thunder to win the series, but they have enough talent to stretch the Spurs. It pains me to say I don't trust Westbrook. How can an incredible athlete who plays that hard inspire so little confidence? Two words - decision making. Westbrook is hard-headed and a bad decision maker. Him and Durant have not really learned to play together after all these years, not to mention all the other talent on the roster. It's a weird style the Thunder play built around those 2 super-stars and I don't see it surviving past his round.