Lowell Cohn: Warriors showing an undeniable force of will

OAKLAND

I say the Warriors finish off the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 7.

The Thunder had their shot Saturday night in Game 6, had their shot on their home floor in front of their home crowd, had their shot to eliminate the Warriors. The Thunder led deep into the fourth quarter - had the series clinched - and they could not close the deal. Scored a pitiful 18 in the fourth quarter.

Very bad not to close the deal in your own place when the deal is almost signed and sealed. The Thunder will not close the deal in Oakland. The Warriors will sign, seal and deliver them.

I say the Warriors come-from-behind Game 6 victory was a great sports performance. One of the best anyone ever saw. The Warriors hung around, stayed close, were a shadow the Thunder never could out-run. And when Russell Westbrook’s game went to hell in the fourth quarter and when Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson kept sinking shots, the Warriors showed their grit and their champions’ pride.

I say the Warriors are true champions and the Thunder are not. Without saying it, the Warriors told the Thunder, “Who do you think you are? We are the champions. Beat us.”

The Thunder couldn’t beat the Warriors.

I say: What have the Thunder ever done? Never won a championship. Never won much of anything. Had the advantage through five games of this great series and gave it up. And face Game 7 in the other guys’ place. Bad place to be.

I say the best backcourt in the NBA is Curry and Thompson. If you had your choice and could pick any two guards for your personal All-Star Team, you would pick Curry and Thompson. Any other two and you’d be wrong.

At point guard, I pick Curry over Westbrook - it’s close - because Curry is a better offensive player. More efficient. Better shooting percentage. Better 3-point shooter. Westbrook is what coaches call a volume shooter. Takes and misses lots of shots to get his point total.

I take Thompson as my shooting guard because he is the best and he is a superstar.

I say his performance Saturday night was astonishing - 41 points, 11 3s. But don’t take my word for it. Steve Kerr, tired and subdued, met the media at the Warriors gym Sunday afternoon. “Obviously, Klay’s performance, just amazing,” he said. “One of the great individual performances we’ve ever seen.”

I say Thompson has the perfect demeanor. He kept making shots, kept the Warriors in the game, and he never celebrated. Went about his business. His confidence is immense but he’s above making a fuss about himself. His game speaks for itself. Buster Posey has the same winner’s demeanor.

I say Kerr perfectly summarized Curry and Thompson. “Steph and Klay are as good as anybody I’ve ever seen in just moving forward, taking the next shot, making the next play, not worrying about a miss or even several misses, and that’s the right mentality. It’s a difficult mentality to achieve for a lot of people but not for them. They have so much belief and they take so much joy out of the game. It seems to come naturally for both of them to get out there and let it fly.”

I say Russell Westbrook put his foot in his mouth when he made fun of Curry’s defense, when he snickered and rolled his eyes about Curry. Westbrook’s defense wasn’t so hot in Game 6. He couldn’t stop Curry and he had his chances.

Curry is a good team defender - the Warriors held the Thunder to 101 points Saturday night. Stingy. Curry plays the passing lanes intelligently and steals a ton of passes.

I say Westbrook owed the two-time MVP minimal politeness. If he doesn’t think Curry can defend, keep his mouth shut. Or back it up, which he didn’t. It is a loser’s move to scoff at a great player.

I say eat your words, Russell.

I say Kerr redeemed himself in Games 5 and 6. The Warriors were almost dead. Guys in white coats were wheeling their gurney into the operating room. Billy Donovan was outcoaching Kerr. Kerr was not reaching his players, who played scared and sloppy. And then he reached them. He hit the third rail of coaching. (You know what the third rail is, right?) And his team was electric.

I say Kerr is confident but enormously cautious.

“It’s great to be at home for Game 7,” he said. “You can be nervous, you can be overhyped, you can be excited, but the biggest thing you just remind yourself it’s a game. You’ve got to approach it the same way you approach other games. Keep it simple. Don’t over-think. We have a pretty simple game plan. There’s a few keys we know we have to cover. In a Game 7 there’s nerves, there’s jitters, all that stuff. Once the game starts, just lock in and enjoy.

“This doesn’t guarantee anything. The only thing we guaranteed was one more game on our home floor. Let’s take advantage of that by being extra prepared. There’s no chance of anybody letting their guard down. We’re playing a great team. We know that. We’ve got our hands full with them. They’ve got their hands full with us.”

I say everything that came before, those first six excruciating games that brought us to this decisive moment - that brought us right here right now - are a wonderful setup to Game 7. What a moment of drama awaits, the best moment of drama. One team moves forward. The other, well …

For more on sports in general and the Bay Area in particular, go to the Cohn Zohn at cohn.blogs.pressdemocrat.com. You can reach Lowell Cohn at lowell.cohn@pressdemocrat.com.