The Golden State Warriors are your 2021-22 NBA western conference champions. They’ve made the NBA finals for the first time in 2 years that they missed because of injuries. Before that, they were a dynasty that won 3 NBA titles. Even though they missed the playoffs last year, Stephen Curry believes last year helped them win this year.
The 2021-22 season saw the best offensive team of the decade finish the year as the best defensive team in the league. They won 53 games this year and were the 3rd best team in the West. Even though the Celtics finished 2nd in the east, they do not have a better record than the Warriors and therefore do not have a Warriors’ home-court advantage either.
Stephen Curry did not lose moment in the offseason
In the 2019-20 season, the Warriors played a majority of their year without a single all-star on the roster. The injuries and lack of team depth inhibited their chances to compete with anyone. They lost 50 games and won 15 in the pandemic shortened season. They got a high draft pick but that was all they could take from that year.
In the following year, Steph did not want the Warriors to miss the playoffs once again. So Chef Surry tried to carry this lottery team to the playoffs. He gave it his all as he finished top 3 in the MVP race and won the scoring title with 32 points per game. They almost got in but could not get past the bouncers of the play-in tournament.
They lost both games, to the Los Angeles Lakers and the Memphis Grizzlies. However, at the tail end of that season, they were looking promising. In the last 20 games of the 2020-21 NBA season, they went 15-5. That helped them to finish with a positive record.
“I got a lot of juice from that last 20 games last year. We had a crazy up-and-down year just trying to stay afloat and it got to a point where we found our rotation. We finished 15-5, had those 2 tough losses in the play-in tournament and you can feel like we were close. Like, was close to being in that conversation where we were a serious contender to come out of the West…I got a lot of juice from that finish.”
“I got a lot of juice from the last 20 games last year.”
Stephen Curry on what gave him confidence coming into this season. pic.twitter.com/o8kncDmXft
— NBA (@NBA) June 1, 2022
Steph is now just 4 games from proving to the world that they aren’t going anywhere, but can they do it against Boston is the real question.