The Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers were one home win away from fulfilling their destiny in an unexpected collision course, perhaps the last, between the NBA’s two biggest stars.
All Stephen Curry and LeBron James had to do was take care of business on their respective home courts.
Curry’s Warriors gave the Sacramento Kings life as the Kings dominated the champions on their home floor with a decisive win. But the Lakers treated the evening with the appropriate focus and put the Grizzlies out of their misery with the biggest playoff win of the first round. We are still one win away from either a playoff series with historical implications or one that strikes notes of history from over two decades ago.
Golden State and Sacramento will dance again Sunday afternoon — the Lakers earned the right to wait.
Here are five takeaways from Friday’s games.
The champions are unserious
Perhaps an easy way to see if a reigning champion has lost its edge is watching them squander opportunities to close out a series.
For the Warriors, a champion’s poise has been replaced by an arrogance that’s almost insulting, but if we’ve been watching them all season it shouldn’t be a surprise. The Warriors had everything going for them headed into Game 6: They believed they took the heart from the upstart Kings with a Game 5 win in Sacramento, and did not treat them with the appropriate respect coming into Friday. It was evident from the tip, when the Kings took an early lead and never quite looked back.
It felt reminiscent of the first two games when the Kings ran, and ran, and ran some more. De’Aaron Fox’s injury only slowed him down so much; the injured finger on his shooting hand didn’t stop him from getting wherever he wanted, whenever he wanted. He kept pushing the pace, in the set offense or after baskets or turnovers, and it kept the Warriors on their heels. If you didn’t know any better, with the way the Warriors approached the game, it wasn’t obvious which team was the playoff-tested bunch versus the novices.
Curry again looked casual, as he did in Game 5 for large stretches, but he wouldn’t be saved by his teammates. Instead, they followed his lead.
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