Game 7 was no blowout as the Golden State Warriors won a tough one, 96-88, to make it three straight wins against the once indomitable-seeming OKC Thunder. The Warriors advance to a rematch against the Cavaliers in the NBA Finals. The Warriors have boasted team effort all year, setting a record for regular season wins (73) in defense of their 2015 title. But the Warriors’ Game 7 win exemplified the team concept, as ELEVEN Warriors scored baskets. The only Warriors who didn’t score were the two who didn’t play. If a Warrior played a minute, like Anderson Varejao, he scored a basket. The Thunder saw just seven players knock down a shot.
An even greater contrast might be seen in the Cleveland Cavaliers, whose reliance on the Big 3 (James, Love, Irving) for scoring is heavily weighted. Even in the Cavs’ Game 6 113-87 blowout of the Toronto Raptors, where there was plenty of garbage time for bench player to make a mark, just eight Cavs made baskets — and three of them (Tristan Thompson, Richard Jefferson and Matthew Dellavedova) made just one each.
