Warriors down 3-1: Comebacks are rare, but this core has done it before
Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green were a part of two of the
13 times in NBA history that a team has come back from down 3-1 to win a
series
>Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry (30) and Klay Thompson (11) warm
up before Game 4 of the NBA basketball Western Conference semifinal
playoffs at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, Calif., on Monday, May 8,
2023. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
By ALEX SIMON | asimon@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: May 9, 2023 at 5:30 p.m. | UPDATED: May 9, 2023 at 5:30 p.m.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2023/05/09/warriors-down-3-1-comebacks-are-rare-but-this-core-has-done-it-before/

Coming back from down 3-1 in an NBA playoff series is no small feat.

Entering this year’s second round, there have been 277 instances of a
team falling into a 3-1 series hole in NBA history. Only 13 of them have
come back to win the series — a measly 4.7%.

Those are the odds stacked against the Warriors entering Wednesday
night’s Game 5 against the Lakers, who need to win just one more game to
advance to the Western Conference finals.

But if any team knows how to fight through not one, not two, but three
straight elimination games and win them all, it’s this Warriors core of
Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.

After all, they’ve done it once before — and been on the other end of
another one.

Back in the 2016 Western Conference finals, the Warriors were down 3-1
to the Oklahoma City Thunder in a series that followed the same path as
this Lakers one — losing Game 1 at home before a comfortable Game 2 win,
then dropping Games 3 and 4 on the road.

When the Warriors returned to Oakland in 2016 for Game 5, Oklahoma City
surged in the third quarter to tie the game and put Golden State on the
precipice. But thanks to a quick eight-point burst to open the fourth
and 12 points from Curry in the final quarter, the Warriors survived,
120-111.

That sent the series back to Oklahoma City and the Thunder were ready,
leading by as many as 13 points in the second quarter and carrying an
eight-point lead to the fourth. It was then that the legend of “Game 6
Klay” was born.

Thompson scored 19 of his 41 points in the fourth (on 5-of-6 shooting
from 3-point range in the quarter) and Curry added eight of his 31
points on the night to help the Warriors come from behind and steal Game
6, 108-101, forcing the Game 7.

Back at Oracle Arena, it’s easy to forget that the Thunder led for
nearly the entire first half, by as many as 12 points midway through the
second. But after trailing by six at halftime, a classic Warriors
third-quarter barrage from deep quickly turned the deficit into an
11-point lead after three.

Oklahoma City tried to fight back in the fourth, but Curry took over,
scoring the final eight points for the Warriors and 15 in the final
frame to help seal the 96-88 win, complete their comeback in the series
and get back to their second consecutive NBA Finals.

That’s the history that the core is calling back to now.

“I remember saying the same thing I did now,” Thompson said. “Taking one
day at a time and enjoying the process of chasing greatness.”

Of course, they also know what it’s like on the other end, too: They
blew a 3-1 lead themselves in those 2016 NBA Finals to the Cleveland
Cavaliers and LeBron James, now with the Lakers.

The fact that the Warriors could potentially exact revenge on James with
a similar comeback all these years later, isn’t lost on anyone.

“They’re probably saying, ‘Remember when we had them 3-1 and they came
back?’ Now, they have a chance to get LeBron back,” Shaquille O’Neal
said on TNT’s “Inside the NBA” after Game 4 on Monday night.

The Warriors have faced one other 3-1 deficit during this dynastic run,
in the 2019 NBA Finals. That time, they didn’t have home-court
advantage, but they won Game 5 in Toronto — even after losing Kevin
Durant to his Achilles injury.

They had a lead in the third quarter of Game 6, too — even after Klay
Thompson tore his ACL, but returned to shoot two free throws. But in the
end, the depleted Warriors couldn’t hold on.

It’s fair to wonder if the Warriors could have made their own 3-1
comeback had Durant or Thompson (or both) not been injured.

The dynasty may have looked over then, but we now know it wasn’t, even
after Durant’s free-agent departure. This core added a fourth title last
season and will forever be legends.

But even with all they’ve previously done, pulling off this comeback
over James, with questions swirling about the future of the dynasty?
That would undoubtedly be something special.

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Alex Simon | Sports Digital Strategist/Editor
Alex Simon is a sports digital strategist and editor for Bay Area News
Group. He’s been in journalism for years as an editor, reporter and
adjunct professor. Alex is a 2017 graduate of Elon University with a BA
in journalism and a 2019 graduate of Arizona State University with a MA
in journalism. He enjoys weekend adventures and loves In-N-Out Burger a
bit too much.Alex Simon is a sports digital strategist and editor for
Bay Area News Group. He’s been in journalism for years as an editor,
reporter and adjunct professor. Alex is a 2017 graduate of Elon
University with a BA in journalism and a 2019 graduate of Arizona State
University with a MA in journalism. He enjoys weekend adventures and
loves In-N-Out Burger a bit too much.