This year, the NBA Championship was Golden State’s to lose. They ran off three consecutive victories to beat a very good Cavs team in last year’s Finals, and this year they upped the ante. They became the first team to ever win 73 games in a single season, Stephen Curry (last year’s MVP), got so much more ridiculous that he placed fourth in Most Improved Player voting en route to winning his second consecutive regular season MVP award. The Warriors opened the season 23-0, only lost 9 games after that, and appeared to be an infallible machine heading into the playoffs.

However, their experience with the Oklahoma City Thunder hasn’t gone as expected. The Thunder, who feel as if they have something to prove–they boast two of the league’s top 5 players, yet were given little chance to reach the Finals–are playing as if each of their careers and contracts depends on the outcome of this series. For Kevin Durant, who is an unrestricted free agent beginning this July, that may actually be true.

After last night’s blowout loss, the Warriors now face a 3-1 deficit in the Western Conference Finals, and their star point guard, Curry, cannot seem to get going. One of their other stars, Draymond Green, who has been embroiled in controversy since Game 2 of this series, is in the same boat.

You can see how head coach Steve Kerr responded to the brutal loss above, and below are some comments from Steph Curry, who fielded questions last night about the possibility of the injuries that hampered him in the first two rounds of the playoffs having an effect on this series. His answer? “No.” Game 5 is tomorrow night in Oakland.

May 25, 2016