Now the veteran leaders on the team, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson have led Golden State back to the Western Conference finals with a different approach than years past (@Warriors/Instagram).

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After two seasons of missing the playoffs, the Golden State Warriors are back on the main stage, making their sixth Western Conference finals appearance in the last eight years. Ahead of Sunday night’s Game 3, they find themselves with a commanding 2-0 series lead over the Dallas Mavericks and are poised to make their return to the NBA Finals. Joining us for a record fifth episode is Andy Liu of the Light Years podcast, who never fails to bring both knowledge and passion when talking about the Warriors.

2:37-3:58: “In those comebacks, it was the defense that was great, but the Warriors rained 3s. It would just be left, right, Steph, Klay, Steph, Klay. And they would just do it repeatedly until they beat the other team into submission, and that’s not what it was last night. It really wasn’t. It was a lot of defense, of course…but it was just getting to the bucket. And I think a lot of that is Steph, Klay and (Jordan) Poole figuring out, like, ‘Hey, we’re great shooters, but that’s not our first option anymore.’ That’s different from what we’ve seen with the Warriors. Is it better? Maybe. It’s not as fun. The comeback is great, but everybody always wants to see Steph go dribble, dribble, dribble, step-back 3, but I think those are less sustainable in the postseason. It’s pretty cool to see a more experienced championship pedigree Warriors team kind of come back this way. It felt like more classic basketball versus the Warriors basketball that we’ve seen for a long time.”

6:13-6:38: “Luka Doncic is a traffic cone. Luka Doncic is amazing. He was damn near LeBron-like on offense Friday night with the way that he was making 3s and getting to the hole. But he doesn’t hold LeBron’s jock on defense. And he’s absolutely terrible. Andrew Wiggins was going at him, Steph was driving right by him, and this Dallas team is exhausted. They go seven guys, they have like two, three good defenders – none of them great – and the Warriors know that.”

14:28-15:05: “(Andre Iguodala) would be the guy out there. And I mentioned Iguodala because we watched the Warriors go up against LeBron every single season, and that was the game plan for LeBron. It was we throw different coverages at him, we throw some Box-and-1, we throw some 3-2, we hard-hedge, we drop, we trap, we do everything, but we never do it twice in a row. And if Luka’s gonna kill us, if LeBron’s gonna kill us, you live with it. That’s just how great Luka is. He’s gonna kill you, especially if, if he’s gonna make 28-foot 3s, pack it up!”

20:48-22:30: “I’ve never seen (Poole) lose confidence yet. … You could say he’s already helped the Warriors win one game this series, and this was Game 2. He got to the hole, he made a few big 3s. That third-quarter run at the end and then the beginning of the fourth quarter, that was Jordan Poole. That was Poole, Wiggins, Otto (Porter), (Kevon) Loon(ey). Those guys brought the Warriors back and helped give that lead to Steph. … And that’s something also that the Warriors have never had. Even when KD was on this team, the minutes that Steph wouldn’t play were always terrible.”

28:22-30:23: [Steph Curry]’s been great at everything except the thing that he’s the greatest ever at. Like, his shooting has been down, he’s shooting 80% from the free-throw line. Just weird. … And it’s the 3-point shooting though. I think teams have played him this way for five years now, where they just throw two guys at him, no matter what, at half-court… and it’s hard to get him into a 3-point shooting rhythm. … Outside of that, I would say physically he’s as great as he’s ever been in terms of he’s finishing at the hole, he’s the best defender that he’s ever been in his career. You can see the crossover, the step-back, they’re slower, but he’s not worse physically than he has been. And he’s also way smarter. … I think right now if you’re a Warriors fan, you can argue who’s the best player in this series and people are gonna say, ‘Luka this, Luka that.’ Five minutes left, give me Steph Curry every single time.”

37:36-38:08: “I don’t want to say [Steve Kerr] stole the game with the defensive scheme, but he set the tone. He said, ‘You know what, we’re just going to run this scheme with 18 different coverages in Game 1,’ and that’s what set the tone on Luka and they won that game because of that. They won that first game because of Steve Kerr.”

*Andy last appeared On the NBA Beat on, November 3 after the Warriors’ 5-1 start to the 2021-22 season. Here’s his first appearance on the show, back in December 2015, more than six and a half years ago. 

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Music: “Who Likes to Party” by Kevin MacLeod.