Latest / Bleacher Report / Untold Stories from Steph, KD and 2018 Warriors' NBA Title Run (feat. Nick Young)

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Untold Stories from Steph, KD and 2018 Warriors' NBA Title Run (feat. Nick Young) · Bleacher Report

0:00
Speaker 1: This is Nick Young, twenty eighteen NBA Champion with the
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Speaker 1: Golden State Warriors.
0:05
Speaker 2: The tires, good ties.
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Speaker 1: He's going to take you through their entire championship. Runner,
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Speaker 1: It's over.
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Speaker 2: You could tell all right way outside gold.
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Speaker 1: On presented by State Farm.
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Speaker 2: Roland State Warriors. Back to back title.
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Speaker 1: Fresh off their second title in three years, the twenty
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Speaker 1: seventeen eighteen Warriors were chasing something bigger than just another ring,
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Speaker 1: true dynasty status. To get there, they wouldn't need to
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Speaker 1: accomplish something they had not yet done winning back to
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Speaker 1: back championships, but the competition was getting fiercer. After three
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Speaker 1: consecutive regular seasons as the number one seed, the Warriors
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Speaker 1: finished second in the West behind the Rockets. In James
0:44
Speaker 1: Barden's MVP season.
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Speaker 2: You know, they come from winning and now they're second place.
0:51
Speaker 2: You know, Steve Kerr was rest in Katie or resting
0:54
Speaker 2: Clay and resting stuff, and there was a lot of
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Speaker 2: hype around that is a Katie's team because he's playing more.
1:00
Speaker 2: Can Steph finally get his Finals MVP? So it was
1:04
Speaker 2: a lot I think when the playoffs started, I've seen
1:08
Speaker 2: a different version of Draymond being the captain. It really
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Speaker 2: don't matter who it is, from the star player to
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Speaker 2: the last person on the bench, he gonna be the
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Speaker 2: same way. Yell at you, talk to you, uplift you.
1:20
Speaker 2: But when it's playoffs time, you see, it's way more serious.
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Speaker 2: Ain't too much laughing, too much playing around. I learned
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Speaker 2: that early Steph is he's like the good good cop
1:31
Speaker 2: to Draymond's bad cop. You know, you gotta have that
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Speaker 2: kind of balance and Draymond's being Draymond and Stepha pull
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Speaker 2: you to the side and don't worry about that. Just
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Speaker 2: continue to play. Things gonna work out, you know. So
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Speaker 2: he's a good dude in KD. He don't really he's
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Speaker 2: not really the leader type, like the captain type. He
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Speaker 2: leads by just being on the floor. But he's not
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Speaker 2: really too vocal unless he kind of know you that
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Speaker 2: he came in together knowing him for a little bit.
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Speaker 2: So some shots I shoot KT and be a he'll
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Speaker 2: turn into Draymond a little bit.
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Speaker 1: But the Warriors would be entering this postseason without one
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Speaker 1: of their leaders. Steph Curry suffered an mcl scrand late
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Speaker 1: in the regular season that sidelined him for the entire
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Speaker 1: first round of the playoffs.
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Speaker 2: Without Stuff, he was a little nervous, but the Spurs
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Speaker 2: always a tough, tough matchup. It's really like my first
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Speaker 2: playoff round and since my rookie season, I think, but
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Speaker 2: since the Clippers. I remember earlier that day Steve Kurr
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Speaker 2: came to me and said he probably won't play that
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Speaker 2: much this round. But when he called my name, I
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Speaker 2: got in there. I was happy to join the you know,
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Speaker 2: the shot making out there. When state opens up for
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Speaker 2: twenty eighteen NBA Playoffs with a convincing win, throne start
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Speaker 2: like that gives the other players confidence, and it gives
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Speaker 2: like the star player players confidence in them guys to
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Speaker 2: the passing the ball, like the way Javal was playing.
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Speaker 2: Cook came in and hit some big shots for us,
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Speaker 2: and of course Draymond and Clay and KD did what
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Speaker 2: they was gonna do.
3:01
Speaker 1: With everybody stepping up, the Warriors defeated the Spurs in
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Speaker 1: five games. Next up, we're the Pelicans. Would just pulled
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Speaker 1: off a huge first round upset by sweeping the three
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Speaker 1: Sea Blazers behind the dominance of Anthony Davis. With Stuff
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Speaker 1: still out, Nick Young would get the start in game one.
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Speaker 1: The Warriors up would once again be put to the test.
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Speaker 2: Steve Kerr, I think the second round he told me
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Speaker 2: it's gonna be my playoff round right here. He's gonna
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Speaker 2: start me, gonna play me. Be ready, And it was dope.
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Speaker 2: When Steve Kerr will let you know, this is your playoffs.
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Speaker 2: Now we need you, we gonna start you. It's a
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Speaker 2: little nervous, you know, because you don't want to mess
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Speaker 2: up while you're out there. But at the same time,
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Speaker 2: it's like, yes, it's what it was all for. And
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Speaker 2: that's why I think they brung me there. I wasn't
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Speaker 2: scared of the moment. I look forward to those being
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Speaker 2: swaggy p I got to, you know, making shots during
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Speaker 2: the playoffs when they counts, you know, that's like my moment.
3:55
Speaker 2: I love the attention. So everybody gotta, you know, do
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Speaker 2: they You know, players like Eagle Dollar, myself, Trevail, David West,
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Speaker 2: Patrick McCall I forgot leaving Ston, Sean Livingston. I think
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Speaker 2: we had one of the best teams ever. So I
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Speaker 2: think they get guys with all egos. You gotta strip
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Speaker 2: your ego and just think about championships. Has to go
4:18
Speaker 2: when you want to make it to the NBA everybody
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Speaker 2: dream of winning the championships, but they don't know. You
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Speaker 2: gotta put some of your game to the side. You
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Speaker 2: gotta put your ego to the side, and you gotta
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Speaker 2: be one team.
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Speaker 1: The Warriors cruise to a Game one victory behind double
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Speaker 1: digit scoring from six different players, and after that twenty
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Speaker 1: two point win, Warriors fans were given another reason to celebrate.
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Speaker 1: Steph was cleared to return for Game two.
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Speaker 2: It was like the King was back for Oakland. It
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Speaker 2: was a different, you know, vibe, different everything. The crowd
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Speaker 2: was more into it. I feel like we had more
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Speaker 2: T shirts in the stands, on the seats, more people,
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Speaker 2: more traffic. You just knew something big was about to
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Speaker 2: have it good. The had your star player back and
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Speaker 2: it's about to be ninety night Time Top five best
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Speaker 2: point guards ever Well top probably won in my opinion,
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Speaker 2: changed the game.
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Speaker 1: Steph wasted no time settling back in, scoring twenty eight
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Speaker 1: points and knocking down five threes in just twenty seven
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Speaker 1: minutes in his return. Oh fo yeah, finishing is a
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Speaker 1: team high plus twenty six. Steph and Katie combined for
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Speaker 1: fifty seven points, leading the Warriors to a one hundred
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Speaker 1: and twenty one to one hundred and sixteen game two
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Speaker 1: victory in New Orleans. For Game three, Ad made the
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Speaker 1: loudest statement. He finished with a game high thirty three
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Speaker 1: points in eighteen rebounds, and the attention Golden State paid
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Speaker 1: him in the post helped open up looks from deep.
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Speaker 1: The Pelicans knocked down fourteen threes and took Game three
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Speaker 1: one hundred nineteen to one hundred. In Game four, Ad
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Speaker 1: remained taught with the twenty six point double double. The
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Speaker 1: KD overwhelmed with thirty eight points the Warriors. He went
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Speaker 1: one hundred eighteen to ninety two victory.
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Speaker 2: At that point, I think Ad could have been considered
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Speaker 2: top two best bigs in the league. He wasn't as
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Speaker 2: injury prone as he was is now you'll hear people say,
6:17
Speaker 2: who it's eighty's time and while you still got KD
6:21
Speaker 2: out there, one of the best scorers to ever play
6:23
Speaker 2: this game is you can't you can't say them type
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Speaker 2: of things. He gives up for them type of games,
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Speaker 2: and they like to prove of points. I think that's
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Speaker 2: what he was doing that series, and I think it
6:33
Speaker 2: was like Ad coming out like first time really being
6:36
Speaker 2: that guy and taking his team to the playoffs. But
6:38
Speaker 2: they had guys that know how to win. He still
6:41
Speaker 2: felt like they were shorthanded. As long as we come
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Speaker 2: out and punch him in the mouth first, I think
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Speaker 2: we'll win. And that's what we did. They wasn't playing games,
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Speaker 2: and I think that's the Draymon's main thing. Don't play
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Speaker 2: with your food. Let's go out there and get him
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Speaker 2: out while they down, keep him down, don't give 'em hope.
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Speaker 2: And me always being like a big third quarter team.
7:01
Speaker 2: When teams feel like they got a chance, that third
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Speaker 2: quarter be showing who to go to. State.
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Speaker 1: Warriors are back in the Bay for Game five. The
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Speaker 1: Warriors closed out the series and advanced to their fourth
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Speaker 1: straight Western Conference Finals, but their first without home court advantage.
7:18
Speaker 1: Waiting for them in Houston was a Conference finals matchup
7:20
Speaker 1: NBA fans had been anticipating ever since Chris Paul requested
7:24
Speaker 1: a trade and joined MVP James Harden that summer. The
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Speaker 1: two best offensive teams in basketball, the two top seeds
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Speaker 1: in the West, battling for a spot in the NBA Finals.
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Speaker 1: This would be the Warriors' toughest test yet, a chance
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Speaker 1: to bring them one step closer to dynasty's status.
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Speaker 2: This is the championship right here. Houston had beating us
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Speaker 2: during the season a couple times. It was number one.
7:49
Speaker 2: James Harden was on record pace. Chris, Paul and Steph
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Speaker 2: had like they little beef in that first game just
8:00
Speaker 2: they thought they had it. They really thought that was
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Speaker 2: gonna beat us, and Clay went crazy. That's the Clay
8:05
Speaker 2: we was waiting fow and they say, you always had
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Speaker 2: like the game five, Clay or something like that Game
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Speaker 2: six Clay. He delivered the first game, so he was happy.
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Speaker 1: Clay finished with a game high six three pointers alongside
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Speaker 1: Katie's thirty seven points to push the Warriors to a
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Speaker 1: one hundred and nineteen one hundred and six Game one victory.
8:25
Speaker 1: But in Game two, James Harden and Eric Gordon sc
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Speaker 1: were twenty seven apiece to lead the Rockets to a
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Speaker 1: one hundred and twenty seven to one hundred five victory.
8:33
Speaker 1: Back in Oakland, Steph Curry put on a show, dropping
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Speaker 1: thirty five points to lead the Warriors to a dominant
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Speaker 1: one hundred twenty six to eighty five Game three victory.
8:43
Speaker 1: But the Rockets weren't going down without a fight, and
8:45
Speaker 1: We're determined to steal an elusive win at Oracle in
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Speaker 1: Game four.
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Speaker 2: I don't think they missed the shot man. It was
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Speaker 2: a he started off with the lead. Actually, I think
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Speaker 2: we win in that game. A little bit overconfident, being
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Speaker 2: up to one that could do it, being at home
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Speaker 2: with your fans, and I think during that time Oakland
9:06
Speaker 2: had one of the best fan bases I've seen. Stretching
9:10
Speaker 2: in the playoffs. Owners is great. I think that's what
9:13
Speaker 2: it because you know, it was like a family. Bob
9:15
Speaker 2: Myers a practice with us, He played in the game
9:18
Speaker 2: site court side, give us pointers, and owners that take
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Speaker 2: us out to dinners and set up little events for us.
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Speaker 2: It was like a little family. So when you lose
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Speaker 2: in front of the fans and it was like a
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Speaker 2: family environment, it was tough. It was tough for US.
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Speaker 1: Series tied to to Game five in Houston came down
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Speaker 1: to the final minutes. Eric Gordon hit a huge three
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Speaker 1: to give the Rockets a four point lead with just
9:42
Speaker 1: over a minute remaining, but Raymond answered immediately to cut
9:46
Speaker 1: it to one thanks to several made free throws. Houston
9:49
Speaker 1: held on for a ninety eight to ninety four victory,
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Speaker 1: but not without a significant loss. With less than a
9:54
Speaker 1: minute left, Chris Paul suffered a hamstring injury on a
9:57
Speaker 1: spinning drive. Though he tried to push through, he would
10:00
Speaker 1: miss the remainder of the series. Facing elimination in Game six,
10:04
Speaker 1: the Warriors refused to let their run end at scoring
10:07
Speaker 1: the Rockets thirty one to nine in the final quarter
10:09
Speaker 1: to force the Game seven. With one game left to
10:12
Speaker 1: decide who would advance to the NBA Finals, the series
10:15
Speaker 1: everyone had been waiting for was living up to the hype.
10:18
Speaker 1: The Rockets got off to a hot start, leading by
10:20
Speaker 1: as many it's fifteen in the first half, but then
10:23
Speaker 1: they went completely cold, missing an NBA record twenty seven
10:28
Speaker 1: consecutive threes.
10:31
Speaker 2: They say, live by the three, died by the three,
10:34
Speaker 2: and if you don't change up the game plan, I
10:36
Speaker 2: think that's where we got them at, especially with players
10:38
Speaker 2: like James Harden that could do more than just shoot threes.
10:41
Speaker 2: I don't I don't know why they were so stuck
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Speaker 2: on shooting threes, but I'm happy. And without Chris Paul,
10:48
Speaker 2: I think that's why. Because Chris Paul is more of
10:51
Speaker 2: a leader, he would have got filed, tried to do
10:53
Speaker 2: the post up mid arranged like he do. They felt confident,
10:57
Speaker 2: and I think that's where they missed up bad h
11:00
Speaker 2: overly confidence playing against somebody that been there know what
11:04
Speaker 2: it takes to win. Some white Stuff got four champion
11:07
Speaker 2: four championships. Gil said. He said he was filing and
11:10
Speaker 2: the rest wanted us to win. But as you could see,
11:15
Speaker 2: they was just missing. And when I came in, I
11:19
Speaker 2: hit like one of the biggest shots to start to
11:22
Speaker 2: run and then stuff hit like four in a row.
11:24
Speaker 2: I said, I wont me a championship. Now, I don't
11:32
Speaker 2: really want to be interview right now. I want to
11:33
Speaker 2: go turn up. I was acting like if we won
11:36
Speaker 2: the championship already, and I remember in dreamwond saying, we don't.
11:41
Speaker 2: We don't get too excited about these things. When you
11:44
Speaker 2: get that ring, that's when you're really happy. We don't
11:46
Speaker 2: like these banners. We want to we want rings over here.
11:49
Speaker 2: It kind of swagged me out, like okay, I'm bad.
11:51
Speaker 2: I'm bad, I'm new here, I'm new. So they all
11:54
Speaker 2: celebrated for me. I remember that we all hung out,
11:58
Speaker 2: had a go as a champagne and all that, so
12:02
Speaker 2: it was fun. It was fun that they did that
12:04
Speaker 2: for me. This was our championship right here, because I
12:07
Speaker 2: feel like we knew he was gonna beat Cleveland. It
12:09
Speaker 2: was more like Lebron's coming. We know we got the
12:13
Speaker 2: better team, but it's still Lebron. At the end of
12:16
Speaker 2: the day, the main thing was shutting him down, and in.
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Speaker 1: Game one of the NBA Finals, the Warriors couldn't shut
12:22
Speaker 1: Lebron down. Lebron he delivered a brilliant fifty one point performance,
12:29
Speaker 1: but the Warriors hung on and the game came down
12:31
Speaker 1: to the wire. The team's traded leads multiple times in
12:37
Speaker 1: the final man until with four point seven seconds remaining,
12:40
Speaker 1: George Hill stepped up to the free throw line. He
12:42
Speaker 1: made the first to tie the game, then he missed
12:45
Speaker 1: the second, setting up one of the most baffling moments
12:48
Speaker 1: in NBA Finals history.
12:53
Speaker 2: Game one was j R. Smith twenty a time with
12:56
Speaker 2: four points.
13:00
Speaker 1: Going to the Cops, j R. Smith breaks the pack
13:02
Speaker 1: out crow to the help help shot block. We'll go
13:07
Speaker 1: to overtime.
13:09
Speaker 2: I feel bad for him at the league, they don't
13:13
Speaker 2: know the score.
13:14
Speaker 1: I think exactly that's a bad mistake.
13:16
Speaker 2: By j R. Smith. At the moment, I didn't feel
13:19
Speaker 2: bad for him. I was wondering what was he doing? Like,
13:22
Speaker 2: but is he doing Lebron had forty something, almost fifty.
13:26
Speaker 2: He was cooking and that was the main thing he
13:29
Speaker 2: was worried about. At the free throw line, we thought,
13:31
Speaker 2: oh man, it's over. We let one slip out. And
13:35
Speaker 2: then when JR did that, he gave us hope again.
13:39
Speaker 2: I was like, now we got another chance to win
13:41
Speaker 2: this game. I feel for in JR situation, he probably
13:44
Speaker 2: thought they was already winning. Crowd, everybody's talking. You can't
13:48
Speaker 2: really hear the play. Your teammate yelling, trying to tell
13:52
Speaker 2: you a play or tell you what's going on. But
13:56
Speaker 2: you got to look up at the scoreboard. For JLR,
13:58
Speaker 2: you gotta look up at the store the score boar.
14:00
Speaker 2: I felt like, oh yeah, this is it Lebron. This
14:02
Speaker 2: is Lebron for sure. Last year he gave it all
14:05
Speaker 2: he could first game, geting out almost having fifty, and
14:09
Speaker 2: you lose like that it's over. You could tell us
14:12
Speaker 2: it's over. I feel like the momentum was out the air,
14:14
Speaker 2: it was out the room for him.
14:16
Speaker 1: Cleveland never led at any point in Game two, Golden
14:20
Speaker 1: State cruise to a two to zero series lead and
14:22
Speaker 1: kept the momentum rollie. In Game three in Cleveland, Kevin
14:26
Speaker 1: Durant went off for forty three points, and in the
14:28
Speaker 1: closing moments found himself in a familiar spot to seal Odlemann.
14:35
Speaker 2: Spot way out tide, tell averse Kevin Durant from Downtown
14:40
Speaker 2: that's to six point games, the same spot where in
14:43
Speaker 2: Game three last year. I felt like that was him saying,
14:47
Speaker 2: he's KD right there. Stephan KD was fighting over Finals MP.
14:51
Speaker 2: That's about it. You could tell they both was trying
14:55
Speaker 2: to get it without saying they trying to get it. Yeah,
14:58
Speaker 2: kad was taking it a little EASi, but like and
15:00
Speaker 2: Steff wasn't having that good of a game that game. O,
15:03
Speaker 2: Kadie just had to turn it up. Man. I think
15:06
Speaker 2: that's that. That's when he went Finals MVP two. After
15:10
Speaker 2: that game, it was a big knife on.
15:13
Speaker 1: Golden State defeated the Cavaliers on their home floor one
15:16
Speaker 1: hundred and eight to eighty five in Game four to
15:18
Speaker 1: complete the ninth SUITEP in NBA Finals history. It was
15:22
Speaker 1: the third championship in four years for the Splash Bros,
15:25
Speaker 1: but the first for Nick Young.
15:30
Speaker 2: Oh Man, that's like the best feeling in the world,
15:32
Speaker 2: your family there, there's nothing like that. It's nothing you
15:36
Speaker 2: can really describe as a kid and using that moment.
15:39
Speaker 2: It was dope. It was dope. I missed the the
15:43
Speaker 2: championship photos actually because I didn't know. I was just celebrating.
15:48
Speaker 2: I didn't know. After the celebration everybody like, go take
15:51
Speaker 2: a picture with the trophy family and all that. I
15:54
Speaker 2: was a little bit too hit, so I just wanted
15:56
Speaker 2: to get home, not even drinking. It was like the
15:59
Speaker 2: champagne ain't get all over you. It's just everywhere. Like
16:02
Speaker 2: I remember just spreading my dad, my mom and everybody.
16:06
Speaker 2: I never got a photo with the trophy down until
16:08
Speaker 2: the parade happened. Sometimes I'll be seeing videos and I
16:13
Speaker 2: didn't know I did that that day. So uh, running
16:16
Speaker 2: through the crowd. They waited there, they there to support us.
16:20
Speaker 2: They've been there all year, and I like to, you know,
16:23
Speaker 2: have fun. You know you you come out wait in
16:26
Speaker 2: line and just to watch us. I'm gonna try my
16:29
Speaker 2: best to go out there in the crowd and let
16:31
Speaker 2: you experience it too. So swaggy, that's what swag you do.
16:35
Speaker 2: People's personally. I remember coming in with the rope and
16:39
Speaker 2: no shirt. Steve Perry like, oh here we go. He
16:42
Speaker 2: about to just don't get in trouble. That's why first
16:45
Speaker 2: thing he said, just don't get in trouble. That's what
16:48
Speaker 2: winning the championship is for. To enjoy. You play this game,
16:51
Speaker 2: to enjoy moments like that. They don't come that often.
16:55
Speaker 2: It's very hard to win, so I didn't know if
16:57
Speaker 2: it's gonna be my last one and end up being
16:59
Speaker 2: my life. Ayahs, man I took well enough advantage of it,
17:04
Speaker 2: for sure,