2017 NBA Western Conference Finals: If for no other reason, Warriors should win for Zaza and Klay

It’s not as if the Warriors’ locker room needed more levity. They’ve always been a loose, care free, downright silly bunch. They dance on the court. They prank each other. They laugh, they punk, and they giggle like a bunch of school children. It is a joy to behold. (You know, unless you hate life, or unless you’re a fan of one of the other 29 NBA teams).

The additions of Kevin Durant and Zaza Pachulia (and, let’s be fair JaVale McGee as well) have only heightened that sense of silliness, that joyful irreverence.

Now, Zaza and Klay Thompson seem to have become best friends, and have quickly become the buddy comedy that this 2017 NBA Playoff run needed.

Historical night. @klaythompson 6pts. Zaza 7pts. #WarriorsvsJazz

As you remember, in Game 3 of the Jazz series, Klay Thompson managed only six points as Kevin Durant led the charge and basically secured the win for the Warriors. Zaza? He had seven points.

That instagram post was epic trolling. And, if he’d purely left it just there, we would have all chuckled but quickly moved on. However, Zaza wasn’t done. Last Friday, he showed up to Warriors practice with a very special, one of a kind, #FAKENEWS gift for his buddy Klay.

Awwwwww, how sweet!

Then, after sweeping the Jazz and after watching the Spurs decimate the Rockets to claim a spot in the Western Conference Finals, Zaza and Klay decided to do what any normal buds would do: They went fishing. However, seems like Zaza’s catch was a little ... light.

Yesterday's catch My bass > ZaZa's anchovies

Later, Klay’s bother Mychel Thompson revealed that maybe he’d done most of the heavy lifting.

Nice day fishing with the bros, one of these dudes holding my fish, but I'm not snitching lol

Listen, if you’d won every single game of the playoffs so far without breaking a sweat, wouldn’t you take time out of your day to prank your teammates and then head out onto the open water for a relaxing day of hunter-gatherer-mode?

I know I would.

The Warriors are about to face their toughest test so far in the postseason. The Spurs are no joke. Not in the slightest. In fact they never, ever joke. There are no jokes to be seen. They will come, and they will dominate. They might not dominate right away, but they, eventually, will dominate. Gregg Popovich will make adjustments. He will stare into your soul and decipher your darkest, deepest dreams. He will turn those dreams in a cacophony of soundless anguish. Those dark dreams will strangle the life out of your title hopes.

I mean, look what he did to the Rockets!

Ugh. That just makes my soul hurt, and I HATE the Rockets.

Plus, this was after the Rockets blew the Spurs out in Game 1 by a crap ton of points and everyone was like, “Whoa! The Rockets! This is happening!

Nope, no. It was not happening.

But I will tell you what is happening.

Klay and Zaza: The Bromance we all need.

If for no other reason, the Warriors should win this series in four games so we have a bunch more downtime before the Finals and then Klay and Zaza can go do more cool stuff together.

Ideas for fun Zaza/Klay bro-date opportunities, plus photo ops:

A trip to Disneyland and the photo from Splash Mountain.

Sort of like this, but better:

Photo via Grantland (RIP)

Or, maybe they could go hang out with the otters in the Monterey Bay!

They could go hang gliding in Big Sur!

Or they could just get wicked high and watch the Big Lebowski or something.

Either way, Zaza and Klay’s buddy-buddy thing is making this playoff run a whole lot more fun. I hope the Warriors win it all, if purely just for them.