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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Andy Nesbitt

Steph Curry and the Warriors are back to being the Warriors and we’re all better for it

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The NBA playoffs the past few years have been fine but they’ve also been missing a few things – one of the best, most exciting players to ever play the game and a franchise that has become a staple in the postseason and has enjoyed playing the role of villain at times.

I’m talking, of course, about Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors.

The NBA playoffs are just better when Steph Curry is out there being Steph Curry. The NBA playoffs are just better when Draymond Green and Klay Thompson are out there doing their things alongside Curry.

Now all three players are back together on a stage they know so well and after last night’s win over the Nuggets, they are advancing to the second round and a possible matchup with Ja Morant and the Grizzlies, who need one more win over the Timberwolves to advance. How good would that series be!?

Before last night, Steph, Draymond, and Klay hadn’t won a playoff series since the 2019 postseason when they went to the Finals and lost to the Raptors. That’s also when they lost Klay to a knee injury that kept him out for a season (another injury kept him out for last season). Shortly after those Finals they also lost Kevin Durant, who left as a free agent to join the Nets.

Curry returned to the starting lineup last night for the first time since he went down with a foot injury late in the season and finished with 30 points, including a series-clinching layup in the final minute that had the Chase Center going nuts.

As a basketball fan this is what you want to see, even if you’re not rooting for the Warriors. We’re lucky to be able to witness Curry doing Curry things again in huge games. We’re lucky to have this storyline back on this big stage. It’s been too long and we should be grateful for the opportunity to be able to take in these moments.

It’s crazy to think that we haven’t seen the Warriors doing this since back in 2019. So much has happened since their last playoff series win when they beat the Trail Blazers in the Western Conference Finals. Remember how that series was all about Steph Curry vs. Seth Curry? Man, that feels like ages ago!

Now imagine if Curry and Co. get Ja Morant and Co. in the second round? Talk about must-see TV right there.

Steph Curry is back. Draymond Green is back. Klay Thompson is back. And the Warriors are back.

And it all feels pretty, pretty, pretty good.

Quick hits: FTW’s final NFL mock draft… Every NFL team’s biggest draft bust… Pete Alonso gets tackled… And more. 

USA Today Sports

– The 2022 NFL Draft (finally) beings tonight in Las Vegas so get ready for it all by checking out Christian D’Andrea’s final mock draft.

– Not all draft picks go according to plan. Here are the biggest draft busts in history for every NFL team.

– Mets star Pete Alonso wasn’t too happy about getting tackled by a Cardinals coach during a bench-clearing scuffle yesterday in St. Louis.

– Oh, and here’s the order for the first round of the NFL draft.

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