Still, Golden State doesn't look right, and that's accounting for every player. Golden State has no room to complain after saying the same about Cleveland last year, missing Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love. But the NBA Finals against the James-led Cavaliers is different.Īcknowledging injuries doesn't excuse performance, of course, despite Twitter's common misunderstanding of that. The Warriors have battled through injuries all season, pushing to 73 wins with liberal usage of their bench. Andrew Bogut, meanwhile, was ruled out for the season after an awful Game 5 knee injury. But Andre Igoudala is half of himself, struggling through Game 6 before leaving in the second half with a nagging back injury. If it was just Curry, perhaps Golden State could survive. Curry still records tolerable numbers, but it's clear he lacks the small, extra burst that caused him to advance one more level and be named the first unanimous MVP in league history. Stephen Curry doesn't look healthy even during his good games, which have been sparse. They're in a daze, stumbling through these games looking nothing like the hegemon we watched romp through the league on its way to 73 wins. The past two games must feel like a nightmare for the Warriors. James just beat them straight up, scoring or assisting on 35 of the 36 points in crunch time, a fourth-quarter performance that will go down as maybe the greatest ever in a finals game. But on Thursday, in Game 6, there was nothing missed. It definitely felt like the Warriors missed an opportunity in Game 5 - partly due to Draymond Green's absence, partly due to an astonishing 82 combined points from LeBron James and Kyrie Irving. This isn't where Golden State saw itself when it went up 3-1 with a win in Cleveland, pounding the Cavaliers on their home court to the dismay of those watching. That's the reality the Warriors face, two more days before an actual reckoning arrives on Sunday in Game 7. It feels like their reckoning might finally be here. But in the wake of the Cleveland Cavaliers' Game 6 victory on Thursday, it feels like the Warriors might have used up every last lifeline they had, like the bumbling wins they stumble into off sheer talent might finally have been used up. They did it last playoffs in the NBA Finals down 2-1, they did it during this year's record-setting 73-win season and they've done it throughout the 2016 playoffs, even coming back from a 3-1 deficit to beat Oklahoma City last round. For nearly two full seasons, the Golden State Warriors have squirmed out of every hazard and wriggled away every time they looked trapped.

Full game 2016 nba finals 7 replay