In a matchup featuring two teams who are unfamiliar with the NBA's biggest stage, the Golden State Warriors will be representing the Western Conference. The best team throughout the regular season continued their success in the postseason and bring a 12-3 record into the NBA Finals.The Warriors are making their first Finals appearance since 1975, when they won the NBA Title.
Not a single player on rookie head coach Steve Kerr's roster has even been to the show. But the Warriors have been unfazed by that seemingly daunting disadvantage. Led by the league's Most Valuable Player in Stephen Curry, Golden State stormed through a powerful Western Conference. They began by eliminating the New Orleans Pelicans in four consecutive games. Then, in the Western Conference Semifinals, the Warriors took down their biggest threat in the Memphis Grizzlies. A team with a dominant post presence, the Grizzlies gave chase to the Warriors atop the Western Conference standings and, at one point, were neck-and-neck with the best team during the regular season. Yet, home court advantage prevailed and the Warriors edged Memphis in six games.In the Western Conference Finals, Kerr's squad made the Houston Rockets look silly. Or, rather, the Rockets made the Warriors look like the San Antonio Spurs of last season.
Regardless, Curry led the way again and proved why he deserved the MVP over James Harden. In the fifth and final game of the series, Curry scored a game-high 26 points and added eight rebounds, six assists, and five steals. The Baby-Faced Assassin survived a serious injury scare in Game 4 and put all worries the bed with his performance at home in Game 5. However, the Warriors are not out of the woods just yet as Splash Brother Klay Thompson was diagnosed with what Curry somehow avoided-a concussion.
Kerr is on record saying he is hopeful Thompson will be ready for Game 1 of the NBA Finals and had an extended period of rest to thank. Impressive, yet, hardly surprising that the Warriors are representing the Western Conference in the NBA Finals. In a battle of rookie head coaches, Steve Kerr is not unfamiliar with this scene. The former guard is a five-time NBA champion, winning four straight back in the late 1990s. He will now be opposing a team for which he once played in the Cleveland Cavaliers. But in a player's league, the 2015 NBA MVP, Stephen Curry, and four-time MVP, LeBron James, will take center stage in the battle for the Larry O'Brien Trophy.