Warriors fans are getting to watch greatness. All-time greatness.
With Thursday night’s 120-110 win over the Dallas Mavericks, the championship-tested trio of Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and Steph Curry advanced to its sixth NBA Finals trip in the past eight seasons. So long as Klay has been healthy, this triumvirate has found itself atop the Western Conference since 2015.
At this point in their careers, the three players have lengthy resumes. This might be one of the coolest stats that the trio shares: They’re the three winningest players in NBA playoff history.
Klay dropped 32 points in Thursday’s win as he had another clutch performance in a clinching game. He also unleashed Game 6 Klay on the Memphis Grizzlies to end their season in the second round. Draymond finished Thursday night’s game with 17 points, nine assists and six rebounds.
With the win, Klay and Dray pushed their career playoff records to 98-41 (.705), while Curry is now 89-39 (.695). That’s pretty ridiculous.
Klay and Draymond have only missed one playoff game each throughout their NBA careers. Draymond’s missed, of course, came in Game 5 of the 2016 Finals when he was suspended due to flagrant foul points. A sore hamstring caused Klay to miss Game 3 of the 2019 NBA Finals. Curry dealt with knee and ankle injuries in 2016 and another knee issue in 2018.
For the most part, they’ve been available and healthy in the postseason. There’s more continuity with the Warriors when it comes to their stars than any other NBA organization.
It all started coming together at the end of the 2013 season, the trio’s first together. Draymond surprised as a second-round rookie that season, Klay was just in his second year and Curry hadn’t made an All-Star team yet. They beat the Denver Nuggets in six games to earn their first playoff series victory together.
Now they tote a 22-4 record in playoff series, including a 3-2 mark in the NBA Finals. It’s tough to beat these guys in a four-game set.
Golden State is awaiting the winner of the Boston Celtics-Miami Heat Eastern Conference Finals and Draymond is expecting Boston to take the series. The Celtics can close it out with a win Friday night at TD Garden.
