Warriors

Klay Thompson (left) starred as Golden State defeated Dallas 120-110 for a 4-1 NBA series victory. The triumvirate that has led Golden State to so much success ...

"We can be happy tonight, and we will be, I'll celebrate tonight. "We never lost the faith, but you understand how hard of a process it was going to be to climb the mountain again," Curry said. Curry, Thompson and Green are in rarified air in NBA lore as the core of a team that has made it to six NBA Finals in an eight-year span.

The Golden State Warriors reached the NBA Finals for the sixth time in eight years,...

But now, with Durant in Brooklyn, the Curry/Thompson/Green trio found its way back to the NBA’s biggest stage. Still, the core is the core for a reason. • The New York Yankees are the only major-league baseball team to make six World Series appearances in eight years (many times), dating to 1921. “We were able to retool around the same three guys and do something special. It just doesn’t happen often in any sport amid expanded leagues, free agency and relative parity compared to the “old days.” “That’s a special story, to be able to make it this many times,” said center Kevon Looney, who has been on the roster for each Finals trips except 2015. It’s the only way you can have a run like that because you get exhausted, tired and frustrated. Big distinction: There were only eight teams in the NBA then, and there are 30 now. They became the first team in 24 years to achieve the feat, since Jordan and the Chicago Bulls (1991-98). Travel deeper back in time and Golden State became the fourth franchise in NBA history to pull off the six-in-eight trick. “It’s the skill and athleticism, but it’s also being incredibly competitive and wanting to win so badly. The Warriors added a fresh twist because they plunged into sporting oblivion after five consecutive berths in the championship series.

Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green picked up where they left off last time they were healthy in the postseason.

The skill and the athleticism and all that, but to also be just incredibly competitive and to want to win so badly. If you don’t have that type of competitive desire and that type of skill combined, it’s just not going to happen six times out of eight years.” “We never lost the faith, but you understand how hard of a process it was going to be to climb the mountain again,” Curry said. It’s an accomplishment only the greatest groups have reached with Bill Russell’s Celtics of the 1950s and ‘60s, Magic Johnson’s Lakers in the 1980s and Michael Jordan’s Bulls of the 1990s doing it. “Like I’ve said over and over again, I’m going to keep saying it: No one has proven that they can move us off that spot,” Green said. Draymond Green anchored the defense and even chipped in on the offensive end for a change.

Draymond Green: "After being counted out — dynasty is over, all of those things — to get back here, it's fantastic."

Things can change in the blink of an eye, so you have to take advantage of the opportunity when you are here. The Warriors are now 9-0 at home this postseason and have home-court advantage in the Finals. The oddsmakers already have set the Warriors as the favorite against either Eastern team, and at this point, who can argue? If they can finish this off with a championship, that will be the defining characteristic of this season. To be able to do it on the biggest of stages, that’s not easy to do.” “I think we pride ourselves on that more than what we do individually because you got a lot of examples of guys that have been elsewhere and come here and found success. But the point of this is that the Warriors are the only West team left standing, even though they are decidedly less talented this time around than they were for any of the previous Finals trips. The Warriors are back because everything good revolves around Curry, Draymond and Klay, who have not fallen off. “It’s a testament to the hard work and dedication and to an incredible organization. For him to be the first one to hold that up, let out that primal scream when he got it to acknowledge that we’re back and we’re here, it’s pretty cool. That’s why the arena rattled with his decibels and why his teammates, young and not so young, enjoyed it so much. That’s why the moment was perfect for Draymond to take the trophy from current executive Shaun Livingston, who was presenting it for the league.