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Watch Warriors Stephen Curry Talk 'Uncharted Territory' of Game 5 vs. Raptors
June 10, 2019
If this is the end of the Golden State Warriors' dynasty, Stephen Curry isn't going down without a fight.
"Who knows how the story ends," he told ESPN's Rachel Nichols. "But whoever's out there ready to play in Game 5, we know what the task is and we just wanna give it everything we've got to get the job done."
He also acknowledged this is "uncharted territory" for a team as talented as Golden State.
The comments come amid uncertainty about the franchise's immediate and long-term future.
From an immediate perspective, the Warriors find themselves trailing 3-1 in the 2019 NBA Finals against the Toronto Raptors and don't know if Kevin Durant—who has yet to play in the series—will return for Monday's Game 5. Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium reported Durant is questionable to play with a calf injury that has kept him out since Game 5 of the second round.
From a big-picture angle, Durant has a player option for 2019-20. Klay Thompson and DeMarcus Cousins will both become unrestricted free agents this summer, and Andre Iguodala can do the same after the 2019-20 campaign.
This could be the last run together for much of the core that helped the Warriors dominate the NBA, but the "uncharted territory" angle stands out if Durant does return.
Only one team in NBA history has come back from a 3-1 deficit in the Finals, and that came against the 2016 Warriors. The Cleveland Cavaliers squad that won the championship had LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, but they were healthy all series.
Adding Durant to a group that includes Curry, Thompson and Draymond Green would mean the Raptors would still be facing a talent gap despite their advantage in the series, and it could change the entire way the Eastern Conference representative defends the two-time reigning champions.
Getting Durant back and overcoming a 3-1 deficit would certainly be a memorable final chapter for this dynasty, and Curry isn't ready to close the book on that possibility.