By Golden State standards
Oren Burks Jersey Elite , this season was downright bumpy.
The Warriors won only 58 regular-season games, by far their fewest in this four-year run of excellence. They went 7-10 in their final 17 games of the regular season. Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala all got hurt. They needed to win a Game 7 on the road to reach the NBA Finals, and they could have easily lost two of the first three games of this series.
Yet here they are.
Golden State is on the cusp of another NBA championship, holding a 3-0 series lead over the Cleveland Cavaliers going into Game 4 of the finals. The Warriors could be champions again as early as Friday night, and this crown – after experiencing plenty of turbulence this season – would most definitely be one to savor.
”Going into this season, I don’t think anybody could have guessed or predicted the ups and downs and the roller coaster we’ve been on,” Curry said Thursday as the Warriors prepped for the possible clincher. ”So, definitely a different year, just overall, personally with injuries, as a team with dealing with injuries, dealing with the kind of expectations that have been placed on us from the outside and the noise around us as a team.”
They went 67-15 on the way to the NBA title in 2015, matched that record on the way to another title last season and went 73-9 – the best record in league history – in 2016 only to fall short in the finals against Cleveland. That series
Authentic Natrell Jamerson Jersey , one where the Warriors led 3-1, changed when they couldn’t finish the job while being presented with serious adversity.
This year, there’s been a toughness to go along with the finesse.
They overcame deficits of 17 and 15 points against Houston in the final two games of the Western Conference finals, the second of those on the Rockets‘ home floor. They overcame an 11-point deficit in Game 1 of the NBA Finals against Cleveland, and rallied from 13 points down to beat the Cavaliers in Game 3 on Wednesday.
They needed 27 starting lineups in the regular season, and five so far in the playoffs. But they’re one win away from getting their fingerprints all over another Larry O’Brien Trophy.
”You can never count out a champion, no matter what’s going on in the course of their season,” Cleveland star LeBron James said, lauding the Warriors. ”It’s impossible to do that, because they’re built from a different cloth, and I know that firsthand. When you win a championship and you’re around guys for a long period of time, and you know what you’re capable of doing, all you need is to get healthy.
”If you can get healthy and guys are playing at the right level at the same time, then you can feel like you can beat anybody.”
They got healthy.
And they’re about to beat everybody.
They did it the hard way, without question. Houston finished seven games ahead of the Warriors in the regular season, earning the right to be the No. 1 overall seed in the playoffs. If the Rockets had Chris Paul for Game 6 or Game 7 of that series
Keke Coutee Color Rush Jersey , if Paul’s hamstring hadn’t betrayed him at the worst possible time, then the Warriors could very well be on vacation right now.
”Every season is very different,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. ”Every journey is a new one each season. Yet the cumulative effect on multiple journeys adds up, and we have felt that this year. I think it’s been our most inconsistent season. It’s been our most difficult season. But our guys sense the finish line, and they turned it on right from the beginning of the playoffs defensively.”
The finish line is now within sight.
If the Warriors finish this off – no team in NBA history has blown a 3-0 series lead – then all the hiccups of the regular season will be forgotten. There will be a parade in the Bay Area before long, championship rings to hand out and another banner to unfurl on opening night next season, and more free agents likely will take a look at signing with Golden State in an effort to add to their own jewelry collections.
But if things get rocky next season, the Warriors will also have the experiences from this year to draw upon. In short, not looking their best at times this season might ultimately make them better.
”It’s been a crazy ride,” Curry said. ”So now we’ve just got to finish the job.”
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Joe Tessitore calls his new gig at ESPN a "legacy job."
Jason Witten notes he's joining "another iconic franchise."
Booger McFarland says it's "the pinnacle of what we do."
They are the three new voices who will work ESPN's Monday night games this season.
Tessitore has been one of the network's top announcers for 16 years on boxing, college football and basketball, including calling the College Football Playoff semifinals the past two years. It will be his first NFL assignment.
"I am very conscious of that lineage," says Tessitore, who at 46 is the oldest member of what he calls "a young, vibrant crew."
"When I got the call that I would be doing this, my first reaction was remembering when I was a kid watching Frank Gifford
Bears Anthony Miller Jersey , Dandy Don (Meredith) and Howard Cosell. Everybody back then watched 'Monday Night Football' and 'Wide World of Sports' and Howard Cosell doing boxing. I did a Cosell imitation that had my grandfather, who didn't speak English, laughing his tail off."
Witten, one of the sport's finest tight ends for 15 seasons and a likely Hall of Famer, retired from the Dallas Cowboys earlier this month to move into the booth.
Tessitore believes Witten will be a natural as he and McFarland replace Jon Gruden as analysts. Gruden, of course, is back coaching in the league with Oakland.
"We had a lot of candidates, and at the end of the audition process we all were saying, 'This is very obvious,'" Tessitore says of Witten.
"He has such an upside that this is a guy who could be the next generation's face and voice of the NFL. He's smart, respected, even beloved by coaches, and has a tremendously high football IQ. Jason has a little of all the traits and characteristics of the great ones. Most importantly, he is wholly authentic."
Witten will be in the broadcast booth with Tessitore. McFarland, who won two Super Bowls as a player and has been an analyst for ESPN and SEC Network for four years, will be the first field-level analyst for "Monday Night Football.'"
The idea is for the effervescent McFarland to give a viewpoint from near the trenches 鈥?exactly where he spent nine pro seasons as a defensive lineman.
McFarland's wit and enthusiasm will be apparent from the outset of the broadcasts; ESPN's first telecast will be Thursday night
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"I am going to use a strange word to describe Booger as an announcer: nimble," Tessitore says. "He's dynamic, a huge personality and presence. You can't have a cookie-cutter type of analyst and Booger is far from that 鈥?he's a guy who you can turn on the red light for the broadcast and he's ready to go."
Tessitore replaces Sean McDonough, who returns to doing college football.
Lisa Salters is the only holdover, returning for her seventh season as the sideline reporter.
Tessitore recognizes the platform he and his new sidekicks will have. Their first regular-season game will be the nightcap of the opening Monday night doubleheader, the Rams at the Raiders (and Gruden).
"The college game lends itself to every game being its own story, the pageantry and the storytelling attached to it," Tessitore says. "In the NFL, each game is a continuation of a well-told narrative that everyone is following.
"It's like this is our weekly story, part of a book we've all been continuously reading, and each week we're on to the next chapter."
He also realizes that simply calling a game for three hours or longer isn't what his new job should be about. There's much more to it.
"There's a vision of when we land in town we begin to create content for fans who can go to the app and hear what we have to say about the upcoming games or what's happening in the league," he says. "We also want to have more content made available pre-game and postgame.
"I've become so football-obsessed, it has become ridiculous."
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