LOS ANGELES — Whoops, shouts, tune and a rousing rendition of “Happy Birthday” had been so loud within the Lakers locker room that they might be heard out in the hallways. Outside Golden State’s locker room, there was once silence, as the ones inside of assessed what had long past so incorrect this season.
To the victor is going the noise. To the defeated is going an surprisingly early and sullen holiday.
The reigning champion Golden State’s freewheeling, 3-point-centric taste of play modified the N.B.A. and made Stephen Curry a family title. But on Friday night time, the crew couldn’t muster up one ultimate overwhelming flurry of deep pictures, bowing out to the Los Angeles Lakers in six video games in the Western Conference semifinals.
It marked the primary time a West crew had defeated Golden State in the playoffs throughout its dynastic run, which started in 2015 with the primary of 4 championships led by means of Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. But this season was once a few of the maximum tricky of the decade, marred by means of lengthy absences for key avid gamers, a confounding incapability to win at the street, suffering younger avid gamers, and the fallout from Green punching a teammate, Jordan Poole, sooner than the season even began.
“This is not a championship team,” Golden State Coach Steve Kerr stated after Game 6, which the Lakers gained, 122-101. “If we were, we’d be moving on. So you can look at the year in total and see all the ups and downs, and there was all kinds of stuff that went on and adversity that hit. But our group stayed together and competed till the end and made a pretty good run.”
But “pretty good” has lengthy been under the factors of Golden State, given the stature of Curry, who’s broadly thought to be the most efficient shooter in N.B.A. historical past. And now his crew could have to cope with coming back off to earth. It’s the basketball an identical of confronting mortality.
“You’re disappointed and kind of shell shocked that it’s over,” Curry stated. “You’ve poured so much into every season, but going off last year you’re trying to defend and give ourselves the chance to keep advancing. It’s a tough way for the season to end.”
The sequence in opposition to the Lakers marked one of the vital extremely expected playoff matchups in years, pitting Curry in opposition to the Lakers big name LeBron James for the primary time for the reason that 2018 N.B.A. finals, when James was once at the Cleveland Cavaliers. But this sequence in the end didn’t fit the hype, with blowouts in 4 of the 5 video games after an exciting Lakers win in Game 1. Curry and Thompson struggled on Friday, combining to shoot an abysmal 14 for 47 from the sector. Thompson, who made simply 3 baskets in every of the ultimate 3 video games, stated this was once “probably the worst shooting series I’ve had in a long time.”
Golden State now faces an unsure summer time; Curry known as it “unfamiliar territory.” With one of the vital pricey rosters in the league, and a brand new collective bargaining settlement aimed toward curtailing heavy spenders, Golden State is most likely to take a look at to deliver down prices. It can be a stark transition for the crew, for the reason that it went from a rudderless middle-of-the-road franchise to one of the vital financially treasured ones with Curry on the helm over the last decade.
“For us, it’s an opportunity to kind of take stock of where we’re at, keep the confidence that we can come back and be back at this stage next year,” Curry stated.
It may lend a hand in the event that they get off to a greater get started. This season, Green punched the fourth-year guard Poole in the face throughout coaching camp. TMZ printed a video of the punch, exposing the inner discord of a franchise recognized for continuity and team spirit.
“Every season is made up of events. Some are great, some are not,” Green stated after Friday’s recreation. “I think for this team, more of the events that aren’t so great were so public, and, you know, that’s not something that you normally do. And so the world knows, you know, the tough times that this team has had.”
Now Green’s profession is at a turning level. A four-time All-Star, he has a participant choice for subsequent yr and is anticipated to check loose company. Green had one in all his better seasons this year, however he turns 34 subsequent March, and Golden State would possibly cringe at providing him a most contract. Green has proven a penchant for impulsive conduct, like punching Poole or racking up technical fouls, for which he ranked 2nd in the league throughout the common season. The answer of his contract is the important thing domino in a summer time of retooling.
“I want to be a Warrior for the rest of my life,” Green stated Friday. “I want to ride out with the same dudes I rode in with.”
This season was once a slog for Golden State. “It felt like we were swimming upstream from the beginning,” Kerr stated.
Golden State began the season 3-7. It completed at 44-38 for the West’s 6th seed and had one of the most worst road records in the league, at 11-30. Andrew Wiggins, a key contributor to ultimate season’s identify run, overlooked greater than part the common season as a result of an damage and an undisclosed private factor. Thompson, a five-time All-Star, struggled to in finding his shot in the primary 1/3 of the season and he has noticeably slowed on protection after two primary accidents in contemporary years.
If Thompson, 33, has doubts about his long term in Golden State, or any skepticism that this crew can win once more, he didn’t display it on Friday night time. His contract expires after subsequent season.
“I can tell you, we gave it everything we had,” he stated. “But I believe that we have greatness in our future still.”
Golden State can even have to come to a decision what to do with the younger avid gamers it has attempted to broaden whilst chasing a championship — a trail criticized for putting an excessive amount of of a load at the 35-year-old Curry. Poole, 23, struggled mightily in the playoffs, an issue for the reason that Golden State signed him to a four-year contract extension in October value up to $140 million. Other younger avid gamers, like Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody, each 20, had been in and out of the lineup all season.
In addition, the contract of Bob Myers, the crew’s common supervisor for the decade, ends this year. Carrying the dynasty into its subsequent level would possibly fall to a unique architect.
If there was once one brilliant spot for Golden State this season, it was once its maximum magnetic determine: Curry. He performed one of the easiest basketball of his profession — which supposed one of the easiest basketball that any one has ever performed. In the primary spherical of the playoffs, Golden State confronted the third-seeded Kings in Sacramento for a decisive Game 7. Curry scored 50 issues — essentially the most ever in a Game 7 — and hit seven 3-pointers. It was once a reminder of the magic that had made his groups so nice.
But Curry stated Friday that attaining the convention semifinals was once no longer “a moral victory.”
“There’s a lot of pride in what we accomplished,” he stated, “but there’s also an understanding that this is not good enough.”