ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — The Golden State Warriors had just been stunned in Game 1 against the Oklahoma City Thunder, failing to close out a 101-100 deficit with 2:01 remaining.
In the Warriors’ locker room, eleven-year veteran Shaun Livingston offered some wisdom.
“We haven’t been in this position before. I think, just being around the league and understanding it’s not easy to win a championship. This can be good for us in a lot of ways, just to test us and put some pressure on us,” Livingston said. “This can be good for us in a lot of ways and, understand, it’s gonna be a dogfight. It’s not supposed to be easy. They’re not gonna lay down and be happy just because they beat the Spurs. It’s good for us to get punched in the mouth, get back and step up.”
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3eY3h4nROI&w=560&h=315]Stephen Curry even went so far as to say the challenge of being down 0-1 would be “fun”.
“It’s fun to be able to have this opportunity to come back & show what we’re made of,” said Curry at the post-game press conference.
From Sam Amick of , at head coach Steve Kerr and power forward Draymond Green‘s media availability at practice yesterday, on the eve of Game 2:
“We’d prefer to go 16-0 in the playoffs, and win the championship with 30-point games every time,” Kerr said after his team’s practice on Tuesday. “(But) the reality is this is what it’s about. I was part of five championship teams as a player, and it was never easy.
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“There’s a reason we pour champagne on each other’s heads when we win. It’s hard, and it’s a grind, and this is a great reminder of that.”
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But if anyone wondered how the Warriors unwound in those post-Game 1 hours, when that proverbial panic button was just begging to be punched, that clearly wasn’t the case. To hear Draymond Green tell it, they’re happy to be in this position.
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“There wasn’t (any) postgame message,” said Green, who had 23 points, five rebounds and four assists in Game 1. “I saw Steph (Curry) after the game. He smiled and said, ‘We ain’t been here before.’ I said, ‘Yeah, I know. I like this. This will be fun.’
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“If you can bounce back from something like this, it makes it all the more sweeter. I’m relishing this opportunity. This is where you see what you’re really made of. This is where you bounce back and everybody is against you and don’t think you can do it and blasé blasé. This is where it gets fun.”
From Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaGH8cuyDS0&w=560&h=315]“I was telling the guys when we look at our championship run, any time we talk about it, we talk about being down 2-1 to Memphis, being down 2-1 to Cleveland,” Green said. “We never talk about beating the Pelicans 4-0. We never talk about beating the Rockets 4-1. You talk about the trying times. So right now is one of those times. We’ve never been down 0-1, so this is foreign territory for us. But at the same time we’ve been in positions where we’ve had to battle back before.”
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @jdonsports)
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