It’s no secret that the Golden State Warriors were once an elite team that teams struggled to defeat. All-Star Steph Curry even believes that the Warriors still have a target on their backs from almost five years ago.
After a tough loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday night, Curry sounded off on critics of the team’s inconsistencies and stated that he still believes that there’s still some sourness left from opponents in the league after the Golden State dynasty from a few years ago.
Curry Senses Bad Blood
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In his postgame interview, Curry brought up the fact that he believes that some teams might still be holding on to some feelings from seasons ago, saying that: “Teams still want to beat us and beat us bad. They still have a lot of memories from the last five years.”
One of those teams could be LeBron James and the Lakers.
The Warriors arguably had one of the best starting lineups during their championship run from 2015-19. Curry, with Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and Kevin Durant (who arrived in 2016), were sometimes unbeatable, bringing home three NBA titles to the Bay Area. Three of those rings, however, came against James, who was then with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Cavs did beat the Warriors in the 2016 Finals, coming back from a 3-1 deficit and spoiling the Warriors’ 73-9 season in the process.
Unfortunately, this success came to an end after losing to the Toronto Raptors in their last Finals appearance back in 2019 and then missing the playoffs completely last season.
Curry managed to score 16 points in his 26 minutes of play in their blowout loss at the Staples Center against LeBron’s Lakers. The Warriors are not the same team without Thompson. This entire season the team has struggled with consistency while still being playoff contenders in their conference. However, the team still understands that other teams are out to get them and they have quite a lot to prove.
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Warriors Trying to Get Back on Track
After winning their last title in 2018 against LeBron and his Cavaliers, the Warriors dynasty faded. The team lost Durant to the Brooklyn Nets during the 2019, then lost Thompson for the last two seasons due to injuries. After that the Warriors fell from the top to the bottom, quite literally finishing last in the entire league last season.
Since their triumphant run, Curry and company have been trying to get back on track. Despite their many injuries and what seems like a completely different roster, the Warriors are sitting as the eighth seed in a competitive Western Conference.
They’ve brought in two new rotation players in the past year, Andrew Wiggins and Kelly Oubre, and added No. 2 pick James Wiseman at center.
Curry is one of the front-runners for MVP so far this season along with LeBron. After winning against the Lakers in their first matchup, now it is evident that the Lakers are trying to get payback. However, as Curry indicated, it may be getting a bit personal with James.
The Warriors and Lakers play again on March 15, the second game after the All-Star break.
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Warriors’ Steph Curry Sounds off on Bitterness Around the NBA