Before the Warriors celebrated Thursday on advancing to the 2022 NBA Finals, Golden State endured two seasons of unexpected misfortune due to injuries.
After the Raptors defeated Golden State in the 2019 Finals, what looked like a Warriors dynasty in the making took a hiatus. Kevin Durant joined the Nets ahead of the ’19–20 season.
Klay Thompson missed 941 days from the basketball court after suffering a catastrophic ACL injury in his left knee before eventually tearing his right Achilles tendon while scrimmaging in 2020. Steph Curry broke his hand in ’19, missing significant time before leading a charge for a Warriors team that earned a spot in the league’s first play-in tournament.
However, at the close of last season following the Warriors’ losses in the play-in, Curry knew that Golden State would restore itself as one of the league’s elite teams in 2022. A foreshadowing statement from Curry last season went viral after the Warriors punched their ticket to this year’s Finals by defeating the Mavericks, 120–110, in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals.
“It was a special year all things considered and a new experience for me, Draymond, Loon, tried to make the most of it, come back. … Everybody make the right strides and take advantage of the summer and you’ll want to see us next year,” Curry said at the end of last season.
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In the Warriors’ series-clinching win, Curry was named the first Magic Johnson Western Conference finals MVP, averaging 23.8 points per game and converting 42% from three-point range in the series. The Baby-Faced Assassin is back in a familiar place aiming to lead the Warriors to their seventh NBA championship.
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