Warriors Kick Off Final Playoff Run in Oakland in Search of 3-Peat

It took nearly an entire drama-filled regular season for the Golden State Warriors to get to the point everyone expected from them: performing like the best team in the league and poised to collect their third straight NBA championship.

After a wobbly start of the season, the team picked up steam after the All-Star break with an improved defense and closed with an 8-2 record in the final 10 games, clinching the top seed in the West.

Their first test on the road to a three-peat will be the overachieving Los Angeles Clippers, who the Warriors beat just last weekend in the club's final regular season game at Oracle Arena. The team will move across the bay to the brand-new Chase Arena in San Francisco next season.

Game 1 of the opening round series kicks off at Oracle tonight at 5:15.

Once bitter rivals, the Warriors and Clippers last met in the playoffs in 2014 — the last season of the pre-Steve Kerr era. The Warriors, then the young upstarts, were overpowered by Clippers stars Blake Griffin and Chris Paul in a physical 7-game series.

Since then, the Warriors have improved dramatically, adding more talent around Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, including back-to-back Finals MVP Kevin Durant and the mercurial but talented DeMarcus Cousins.

In short, Golden State became a juggernaut, while the Clippers tore down the house, trading away Griffin and Paul, and putting back together a team depleted of stars, obedient to the wishes of head coach Doc Rivers.

It has worked to get them this far, but not many expect them to get past the Warriors.

One of the Clippers’ best chances at doing so is Patrick Beverley getting under someone’s skin and getting the Warriors into trouble with the refs. The former Houston Rockets guard has a reputation for smartly toeing the line, baiting rival point guards and taking them out of the game.

"Antics and all that kind of stuff is likely to happen, but nothing distracts me from playing basketball,” Curry told the Associated Press. The two-time MVP is expected return tonight from a mild right foot sprain, which kept him out of the Warriors regular season finale on Wednesday.

It's the same type of injury that has plagued Curry throughout his career and kept him out of the Warriors first six playoff games last season, but Kerr told reporters that Curry was a full participant in practice and is ready to go for Game 1.

In addition to Curry's health, other keys to the first round matchup will be Cousins, the late-season standout who will make his playoff debut after recovering from a torn left Achilles tendon, and the Warriors’ defense, which has been playing at a high level since the All Star break and helped along by the addition of veteran 7-foot center Andrew Bogut.