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2014-2015, Kerr hard at work
Golden State has a strong backbone around star Stephen Curry and his "Splash Brother" Klay Thompson.
All you have to do is find the alchemist.
It will be Steve Kerr.
The success is immediate.
In the wake of Curry, named MVP, the Warriors unfold an irresistible "run & gun", fly over the play-offs and, in the final, easily dismiss the Cleveland Cavaliers of LeBron James (4-2).
Andre Iguodala, for his defense on "LBJ", is named best player of the final, Kerr becomes the 9th champion coach in his rookie year.
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2015-2016, bitter records
Golden State is in a state of grace.
Records abound, including that of the best record in the regular season (73-9), better than the Bulls in 1996. Curry was again elected MVP, unanimously, a first.
It thickens in the play-offs.
In the conference final, the Warriors are back to the wall against the Thunder (3-1).
In game N.5, they survive Kevin Durant's 40 points, then the next one, Thompson saves them by planting 41 points, including 11 award-winning baskets.
He inherits the nickname "Game 6 Klay".
In the final, Golden State finds Cleveland and sees the double (3-1).
But "King James" does not see it that way.
He and Irving scored 41 points each in Game N.5.
In the 7th, the Warriors crack at home: two minutes from the end (89-89), "LBJ" succeeds "The Block", an incredible counter on Iguodala.
Irving then plants an assassin award-winning shot and the Cavs pull off the biggest comeback in history.
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2016-2017, Untouchables with Durant
Durant frustrated, Golden State frustrated, might as well team up.
Possessing the last three MVPs ("KD" was in 2014), the "Dubs" can only take back their due.
In the play-offs, they sweep the Blazers, the Jazz and the Spurs, twelve straight wins, a record.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr after his team's victory in the NBA Finals on June 16, 2022 in Boston.
ELSA GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP
And take a resounding revenge against Cleveland in the final.
The Warriors lead 3-0, taking their unbeaten run to 15 wins.
The Cavs save the honor in the 4th game, but give in to the next one, helpless against Durant, the implacable best player (35.2 pts, 8.4 rebounds, 5.4 average assists).
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2017-2018, chi va piano...
Second in the regular season behind Houston, the Warriors find James Harden's Rockets in the conference final.
Led 3-2, they erase 17 points from a deficit in the 6th meeting, before inflicting a 64-25 in the second half.
Chris Paul injured, the Dubs snatch match N.7.
The fourth consecutive game against Cleveland is a formality (4-0), except the first duel won after overtime.
Author of 51 points, James hits a whiteboard in anger and harvests a bone bruise on the hand, kept secret until the end.
Durant is still MVP (28.8 pts, 10.8 rebounds, 7.5 assists average).
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2018-2019, black series
If this season was a rock album, it would be "Play wounds" by Alain Bashung, basketball player in his youth.
Finalists for the fifth year in a row, an unprecedented performance since the Celtics of Bill Russell, the Dubs face Toronto.
The series, very disputed, rocks first with the rupture of the tendon of right Achilles of Durant at the time of the match N.5.
Then with that of the anterior cruciate ligament of the left knee of Klay Thompson to the next.
The Raptors win their first title (4-2).
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2019-2020, purgatory
Durant and Iguodala gone, Thompson convalescing... a page turns.
Especially since the Warriors are leaving the Oracle Arena in Oakland for San Francisco and the brand new Chase Center ($1.4 billion).
Curry fractures his left hand, Green wanders like a soul in pain and Kerr arms himself with patience to rebuild with young people (Wiggins, Poole...).
Golden State ends with the worst record (15 wins-50 losses) in the League.
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2020-2021, Curry alone in the world
Massive blow: Thompson, who was preparing his return, ruptures his right Achilles tendon.
Curry, who still has to carry the team on his shoulders, is having one of his best seasons.
He scored 62 points against Portland, became the club's most prolific scorer ahead of Wilt Chamberlain and finished top scorer of the season (32 pts on average), at 33, becoming the second oldest player to do so behind Michael Jordan.
But he can not avoid elimination against Memphis, in the play-offs.
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2021-2022, the resurrection
Golden State shines again, in the wake of Curry, who has become the best three-point scorer in history before Ray Allen, Green found, Wiggins and Poole performing.
And, 941 days later, Thompson is finally playing again.
Stephen Curry (center), with his first NBA Finals Best Player trophy in hand, on June 16, 2022 in Boston.
Adam Glanzman GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP
The Warriors find their DNA of champions in the play-offs, dismissing the Nuggets of Jokic, the Grizzlies of Morant and the Mavericks of Doncic.
In the final, they subdue the Celtics (4-2) carried by Curry finally MVP of a final, seven years to the day after the first coronation of this golden generation.
© 2022 AFP