The Golden State Warriors find themselves in a familiar spot, heading to Cleveland with a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals. Last year, the Cavs split their two home games with the Warriors before their historic run of three straight wins to complete the first comeback from down 3-1 in NBA Finals history.
This time around, the Warriors are hoping to right the wrongs of 2016 and finish the job. Kevin Durant and Steph Curry have been tremendous to this point in the series, and there is a different feel about it, as Golden State has marched to a perfect 14-0 playoff record thus far, standing on the precipice of history as the first team to go 16-0 in the playoffs.
While the Warriors have that opportunity, coach Steve Kerr insists that it’s not a goal of theirs to go 16-0 in the postseason. Kerr says it hasn’t been discussed, and Golden State is far more concerned about avoiding a repeat of last season’s embarrassment in the Finals than making history.
"We want 15-0… We literally have never once mentioned 16-0. It’s a miracle that it’s even a possibility." -Steve Kerr#NBAFinals pic.twitter.com/ZI1v2lZSZM
— NBA TV (@NBATV) June 6, 2017
“We want 15-0,” Kerr said. “That’s what we want. We literally have never once mentioned 16-0. It’s a miracle that it’s even a possibility. It’s so hard to do. We’re here, we’re more focused on what happened last year in terms of, we were up 2-0 and we came here and the series shifted. That’s the important lesson, not any historical benchmarks or anything like that.”
For Kerr, last year’s series loss serves as the perfect reference point for him to keep his team focused and on track. Yes, to this point Golden State has looked unbeatable, but they felt similarly after two games — even four games — last year. That gives Kerr the rare commodity of leverage over his dominant team to bring them back any time he feels they’re losing focus until the series is over.
While many in sports often suggest having a short memory after a disappointing loss, Golden State is taking the opposite approach to this year’s Finals. From Kerr’s statement on Tuesday to Draymond Green admitting that he blames himself for the team’s failure to capture a ring last year, it’s clear that the Warriors are holding on to the frustrations from a year ago as motivation this year.
