Splashless: Warriors' solemn 'morning after'
There’s no escaping the pain, as much as they try.
As the sports world celebrates LeBron James‘ incredible accomplishment, the Warriors reckon with their historic season that ended in disaster. On Monday, at Golden State’s practice facility, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson were unusually frank about their emotions, with Draymond Green adding his own spin on the situation.
“Nah, I didn’t turn my TV on last night,” Curry said in Monday’s exit interview, when asked if he viewed the Cleveland Cavaliers‘ victory celebration.
Of what he might take from Golden State’s collapse, a process that ended with the Warriors unable to make a field goal in the final 4:30 of Game 7, Curry said, “I won’t watch the film of the bad because it’ll bring up too many bad memories … But understanding how I can control the game better and whether or not I’ll be in that position again I know I’ll be better.”
Curry got some reassurance from his daughter, Riley. After Sunday’s game, he told her, “We lost,” to which she said, “I know. It’s OK.”
The wound is fresh for Curry’s backcourt partner. When told of Curry’s decision not to watch Game 7, Thompson affirmed, “Yeah, it’s a good call, Steph.” Thompson was asked if he watched Game 7, and he quickly responded, “No, no, no, no, no. Not going to put myself through that yet. No.
It was also a rough start to Thompson’s day, too.
“It was not a good feeling waking up this morning,” he said. “Obviously you wish the day was different, but you kind of just deal with it and try to take your mind off things.”
During the Warriors’ exit room interview, Thompson answered “I don’t know” often, but finally clarified his answers: “It’s difficult to talk basketball to be honest, man.”
Green said that he saw no use for sadness.
“To sit and dwell on it, that’s not going to do anything for me. I’m not going to sit and throw a pity party for myself, or my teammates or anybody else,” Green said. “We were a minute away from winning a championship. We had a 3-1 lead, we had all the opportunities in the world we needed. Got to take your hat off to them.”
Asked if some have taken pleasure in Golden State’s demise, Green said, “Probably so. That’s fine though. A lot of people wanted to see us lose. They got their wish. I don’t know if they’ll get it a lot more times but they got it this time. That’s cool.”
The Warriors seek to learn from this loss, but are vague on what to divine from it. Curry, who shot 1-of-6 in the fourth quarter, was more specific than his teammates on what went wrong in Game 7.
“I personally settled, looking for a big 3, when that’s not what the possession called for,” he said.
Curry’s right knee has been bandaged since he returned from spraining his MCL in Game 4 of the first round, but he wouldn’t blame his body.
“I was out there on the floor and thought that I could do what I needed to do to be effective in games,” he said. “I wasn’t 100 percent, no, but it doesn’t matter. Coming back from a knee injury, I was able to play. I was able to give it what I had and it wasn’t enough.”
Curry is prepared for scrutiny and criticism, he said: “I take it on the chin because I know I didn’t play my best. And that’s something that I’ll have to deal with. That’s my own expectation and my own self-assessment. I don’t need anybody else to tell me that.”
Still, the reigning MVP shed optimism on next season.
“That’s not going to be the end of the story, just kind of a down chapter in the book,” Curry said.
