LOS ANGELES — Whoops, shouts, music and a rousing rendition of “Comfortable Birthday” have been so loud contained in the Lakers locker room that they might be heard out within the hallways. Outdoors Golden State’s locker room, there was silence, as these inside assessed what had gone so mistaken this season.
To the victor goes the noise. To the defeated goes an unusually early and sullen trip.
The reigning champion Golden State’s freewheeling, 3-point-centric model of play modified the N.B.A. and made Stephen Curry a family identify. However on Friday evening, the crew couldn’t muster up one final overwhelming flurry of deep photographs, bowing out to the Los Angeles Lakers in six video games within the Western Convention semifinals.
It marked the primary time a West crew had defeated Golden State within the playoffs throughout its dynastic run, which started in 2015 with the primary of 4 championships led by Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Inexperienced. However this season was among the many most troublesome of the final decade, marred by lengthy absences for key gamers, a confounding lack of ability to win on the street, struggling younger gamers, and the fallout from Inexperienced punching a teammate, Jordan Poole, earlier than the season even began.
“This isn’t a championship crew,” Golden State Coach Steve Kerr mentioned after Sport 6, which the Lakers received, 122-101. “If we have been, we’d be transferring on. So you possibly can have a look at the 12 months in complete and see all of the ups and downs, and there was all types of stuff that went on and adversity that hit. However our group stayed collectively and competed until the tip and made a fairly good run.”
However “fairly good” has lengthy been beneath the requirements of Golden State, given the stature of Curry, who’s broadly thought of one of the best shooter in N.B.A. historical past. And now his crew might need to deal with coming again right down to earth. It’s the basketball equal of confronting mortality.
“You’re dissatisfied and sort of shell shocked that it’s over,” Curry mentioned. “You’ve poured a lot into each season, however going off final 12 months you’re making an attempt to defend and provides ourselves the possibility to maintain advancing. It’s a troublesome method for the season to finish.”
The collection in opposition to the Lakers marked probably the most extremely anticipated playoff matchups in years, pitting Curry in opposition to the Lakers star LeBron James for the primary time for the reason that 2018 N.B.A. finals, when James was on the Cleveland Cavaliers. However this collection finally didn’t match the hype, with blowouts in 4 of the 5 video games after an exciting Lakers win in Sport 1. Curry and Thompson struggled on Friday, combining to shoot an abysmal 14 for 47 from the sphere. Thompson, who made simply three baskets in every of the final three video games, mentioned this was “in all probability the worst taking pictures collection I’ve had in a very long time.”
Golden State now faces an unsure summer season; Curry known as it “unfamiliar territory.” With probably the most costly rosters within the league, and a brand new collective bargaining settlement aimed toward curbing heavy spenders, Golden State is more likely to attempt to deliver down prices. It might be a stark transition for the crew, provided that it went from a rudderless middle-of-the-road franchise to probably the most financially worthwhile ones with Curry on the helm over the previous decade.
“For us, it’s a possibility to sort of take inventory of the place we’re at, hold the arrogance that we will come again and be again at this stage subsequent 12 months,” Curry mentioned.
It would assist in the event that they get off to a greater begin. This season, Inexperienced punched the fourth-year guard Poole within the face throughout coaching camp. TMZ revealed a video of the punch, exposing the inner discord of a franchise recognized for continuity and concord.
“Each season is made up of occasions. Some are nice, some usually are not,” Inexperienced mentioned after Friday’s sport. “I feel for this crew, extra of the occasions that aren’t so nice have been so public, and, you realize, that’s not one thing that you simply usually do. And so the world is aware of, you realize, the powerful occasions that this crew has had.”
Now Inexperienced’s profession is at a turning level. A four-time All-Star, he has a participant possibility for subsequent 12 months and is anticipated to check free company. Inexperienced had certainly one of his higher seasons this 12 months, however he turns 34 subsequent March, and Golden State might balk at providing him a most contract. Inexperienced has proven a penchant for impulsive conduct, like punching Poole or racking up technical fouls, for which he ranked second within the league in the course of the common season. The decision of his contract is the important thing domino in a summer season of retooling.
“I wish to be a Warrior for the remainder of my life,” Inexperienced mentioned Friday. “I wish to experience out with the identical dudes I rode in with.”
This season was a slog for Golden State. “It felt like we have been swimming upstream from the start,” Kerr mentioned.
Golden State began the season 3-7. It completed at 44-38 for the West’s sixth seed and had one of many worst street information within the league, at 11-30. Andrew Wiggins, a key contributor to final season’s title run, missed greater than half the common season due to an damage and an undisclosed private subject. Thompson, a five-time All-Star, struggled to search out his shot within the first third of the season and he has noticeably slowed on protection after two main accidents lately.
If Thompson, 33, has doubts about his future in Golden State, or any skepticism that this crew can win once more, he didn’t present it on Friday evening. His contract expires after subsequent season.
“I can inform you, we gave it the whole lot we had,” he mentioned. “However I imagine that we’ve got greatness in our future nonetheless.”
Golden State may also need to determine what to do with the younger gamers it has tried to develop whereas chasing a championship — a path criticized for putting an excessive amount of of a load on the 35-year-old Curry. Poole, 23, struggled mightily within the playoffs, an issue provided that Golden State signed him to a four-year contract extension in October price as much as $140 million. Different younger gamers, like Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody, each 20, have been out and in of the lineup all season.
As well as, the contract of Bob Myers, the crew’s common supervisor for the final decade, ends this 12 months. Carrying the dynasty into its subsequent stage might fall to a special architect.
If there was one shiny spot for Golden State this season, it was its most magnetic determine: Curry. He performed among the finest basketball of his profession — which meant among the basketball that anybody has ever performed. Within the first spherical of the playoffs, Golden State confronted the third-seeded Kings in Sacramento for a decisive Sport 7. Curry scored 50 factors — probably the most ever in a Sport 7 — and hit seven 3-pointers. It was a reminder of the magic that had made his groups so nice.
However Curry mentioned Friday that reaching the convention semifinals was not “an ethical victory.”
“There’s lots of delight in what we completed,” he mentioned, “however there’s additionally an understanding that this isn’t adequate.”