"This team is totally different than any other championship team we've had" - Former DPOY believes current Golden State Warriors side "feels a lot different" than previous title-winning squads
The Golden State Warriors are one win away from making their sixth NBA Finals appearance in eight years. The Warriors reached this milestone after besting the Dallas Mavericks 109-100 in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals on Sunday. The win at American Airlines Center marks the 26th successive playoff series where the Warriors have won at least one game on the road.
The visitors got a couple of big performances from their starters that led to the impressive win away from Chase Center. Stephen Curry brought up his seventh 30-point game of the 2022 Playoffs since he finished with 31 points on 50.0% shooting from the field and downtown. Curry also brought up his second double-double of the 2022 postseason, courtesy his 11 assists in the contest.
Stephen Curry has his 7th 30-point game of the playoffs.
Michael Jordan and LeBron James are the only players with that many 30-point games in a single postseason at age-34 or older. MJ and LeBron both won Finals MVP in the seasons they did this. https://t.co/ISpcbZlqZc
But the star of the night for Golden State was undoubtedly Andrew Wiggins. The former No.1 draft pick finished the game with a playoff career-high 27 points on 55% shooting (11-of-20). Wiggins also pulled down 11 rebounds on the night, which included a game-best six offensive boards. This is the first 20-point, 10-rebound game of Wiggins' postseason career. But the real highlight of the evening was his monster poster dunk on Luka Doncic.
"THAT IS A POSTER!" https://t.co/nkwgLi0KPk
With the Golden State Warriors now taking a 3-0 lead in the series, the Mavericks are on the brink of elimination. No NBA team has ever come back from such a deficit to win a postseason series. And although the Warriors have been to the NBA Finals on five previous occasions between 2015 and 2019, former Defensive Player of the Year Draymond Green feels that this team is different. He told the media after the Warriors' victory:
“This team is totally different than any other championship team we’ve had… it feels a lot different.”
Draymond says this team took a huge step today in growth, not just talking about getting off to a big start but doing it. But he says this doesn’t feel like past teams: “This team is totally different than any other championship team we’ve had… it feels a lot different.”
"We're still one win away," says Draymond Green as Golden State Warriors look to return to NBA Finals after three-year gap
Green also struck a cautious note in his post-game comments, warning Golden State Warriors fans not to get too carried away with the 3-0 series lead. He reminded Dubs loyalists that the team still had to win one more game to get past the Mavericks. Green said:
"You appreciate the journey... obviously we had a bunch of injuries and crazy stuff going on, but we never believed that that was it for us. We knew we get healthy, we'll have a chance coming back. To be one win away from the Finals is absolutely incredible, but in saying that, we're still one win away... I'll appreciate it and feel good about it when we actually close out, but for now, it's just another win in the books in this series. Now we've got the tall task of finishing out this series."
"To be one win away from the Finals is absolutely incredible, but in saying that, we're still one win away." https://t.co/NcSiJLj3II