We Believe? Fans gauge Warriors’ chances vs. LeBron, Lakers in do-or-die
Game 6
NBA playoffs: Golden State Warriors fans hope to see their favorite team
keep its season alive Friday in Los Angeles.
>Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry #30 is congratulated by fans as
he leaves the court after their Game 5 NBA basketball Western Conference
semifinal playoff game against the Los Angeles Lakers at the Chase
Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, May 10, 2023. Curry was
the high scorer with 27 points in their 121-106 win. (Jane Tyska/Bay
Area News Group)
By CURTIS PASHELKA | cpashelka@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: May 11, 2023 at 6:45 a.m. | UPDATED: May 11, 2023 at 7:55 a.m.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2023/05/11/we-kind-of-believe-warriors-fans-offer-thoughts-on-what-might-happen-in-game-6/

SAN FRANCISCO – Golden State Warriors fans – both excited and perhaps a
little bit relieved — began pouring out of Chase Center with about two
minutes left in the fourth quarter Wednesday, confident that their
favorite team’s season wasn’t going to end that night.

Outside, though, the party had already started. A “Beat L.A.” chant
broke out from those watching the game on the huge, high-definition
screen outside of the arena and soon after the final horn sounded, a DJ
began to crank out beats in front of a couple hundred energetic fans.

Nearby, a certain aroma familiar to most concertgoers wafted through the
air.

“I think they just went with a faster, smarter lineup, and they really
took their time,” said Warriors fan and Benicia resident Seandale
Turner, who stood well away from the proceedings on the Third Street
sidewalk. “They were patient today.”

The question now is whether the scene outside the arena can be repeated
this year.

The Warriors staved off elimination with a 121-106 win over the Lakers
in Game 5 of their Western Conference semifinal series, but now need to
win in L.A. on Friday in Game 6 to extend their season again. The Lakers
went 10-4 at home over the final seven weeks of the regular season, and
are 6-0 inside their own building this postseason, including their
play-in game victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on April 11.

Adding to the uncertainty is that the Warriors went 11-30 on the road
this season, and lost Games 3 and 4 in Los Angeles to fall behind in the
series three-games-to-one.

“I wouldn’t say I’m super confident, but I’m hopeful and I would not be
surprised if that’s the case,” said San Francisco resident Kamil Smith,
who watched the game from outside the arena. “The Warriors, if any team
can do it, it’s definitely us. We’ve shown that we can beat the Lakers
at their best, so we have what it takes, for sure.”

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Curtis Pashelka
@CurtisPashelka ·Follow
The crowd outside ⁦@ChaseCenter⁩ reacts to a big bucket by Andrew
Wiggins. Warriors up 113-100 with 2:47 left to play in the fourth quarter
[video]

9:25 PM · May 10, 2023
6 Reply Share
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“I’m concerned. Of course, I’m concerned,” said Woodside’s Catha Hall,
whose husband has had Warriors’ season tickets for 40 years. “But
miracles and teamwork do happen.”

The last time the Warriors faced elimination on the road, on April 30 in
Game 7 of their first-round series in Sacramento, they responded with a
120-100 win over the Kings at Golden1 Center.

Steph Curry scored 50 points in the win, setting an NBA record for most
points scored by one player in a Game 7.

Might a similarly heroic performance be needed to extend the series to a
seventh game back in San Francisco on Sunday, when Golden State tries to
improve to 9-2 in elimination games under coach Steve Kerr?

“All I can tell you is it’s possible,” said Richmond’s Jimmy Stuart. “I
won’t get my hopes up too high, but it’s very much possible.”

>Golden State Warriors fans cheer in the fourth quarter of Game 5 of
the NBA basketball Western Conference semifinal playoffs against the Los
Angeles Lakers at the Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on
Wednesday, May 10, 2023. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)

Ryder Zinober has no doubt that the Warriors can win in Los Angeles and
bring the series back to San Francisco for a decisive Game 7. He pointed
to what the Warriors did in Game 6 of the 2016 Western Conference Finals
against the Oklahoma City Thunder as proof that anything is possible.

In that series, the Warriors, down 3-1, won Game 5 at home before they
came back to win Game 6 on the road 108-101, as they erased a
seven-point deficit midway through the fourth quarter behind an
unforgettable performance from Klay Thompson, who finished with 41 points.

Golden State then won Game 7 at home 96-88 to advance.

That Ryder was just 3 years old at the time, as his dad, Scott, points
out, is immaterial.

“Let’s just go back to (2016). They were down 3-1 to OKC, and they won
that series,” Ryder, now 10, said. “And they didn’t have (Kevon Looney)
that year and they also didn’t have (Andrew) Wiggins, and so I’m super
confident. I think they can definitely do it.”

“If they could pull it off then,” Hall said, “they can pull it off now.”

But in the next round, the NBA Finals, Golden State coughed up a 3-1
series lead, losing Games 5 and 6 by double digits to the LeBron
James-led Cleveland Cavaliers, before seeing Game 7 at home slip away in
a 93-89 loss.

Maybe 2023 can be a payback for 2016.

“They’re always a rivalry with LeBron,” Smith said. “There will never
not be a rivalry. It’s always payback.”

>Golden State Warriors' Stephen Curry (30) takes a shot against Los
Angeles Lakers' LeBron James (6) in the second half of Game 5 of the NBA
basketball Western Conference semifinal playoff series at the Chase
Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, May 10, 2023. (Nhat V.
Meyer/Bay Area News Group)

Fans on Wednesday loved the performance of Draymond Green, who had 20
points on 7-of-11 shooting, to go with 10 rebounds and four assists.

Perhaps this playoff run is the last hurrah for the Warriors’ core of
Curry, Thompson, and Green, whose contract carries a player option for
the 2023-24 season. Green could opt out of that deal with the hopes of
signing a longer-term pact, but there is no guarantee that the new
contract will be with Golden State.

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Bob Myers, now in his 11th year as the Warriors general manager, is in
the last season of his contract and it is unclear as to whether he will
be back with the organization in the fall.

Warriors fans might not be thinking about that just yet. Right now, they
don’t want to see the party end — sights, sounds, and smells — included.

“I think they’re going to tie the series up,” Turner said. “I think Game
7 is going to be the pivotal game where we’ll know who’s going to win
the West.”

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Curtis Pashelka | San Jose Sharks reporter
Curtis Pashelka is a Bay Area News Group sports reporter covering the
San Jose Sharks for The Mercury News and East Bay Times. He has also
worked as a general assignment reporter covering the Oakland Athletics,
San Francisco Giants, Golden State Warriors, motorsports, golf, college
basketball and high school sports. Originally from Calgary, Alberta, he
moved to the Bay Area in 1994 and began working full-time for Bay Area
News Group in 2000. Curtis attended Diablo Valley College and San
Francisco State University.