Preview: Warriors return to conference finals, meet Mavericks in Game 1

The Golden State Warriors are BACK in the Western Conference Finals to face the dangerous Dallas Mavericks for a chance to make the NBA Finals. This is Dallas’ first trip to the WCF since the 2011 season, when they knocked off the Oklahoma City Thunder before defeating the Miami Heat in the championship round.

Meanwhile Golden State has gone to five conference finals since then, going undefeated 5-0.

• In 2015, the Dubs knocked off the Houston Rockets 4-2. That series is probably most notable for James Harden setting the NBA record for most turnovers in a playoff game.
• In 2016, the 73-win Warriors overcame a 3-1 deficit to knock off Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook’s Thunder in seven games.
• In 2017, the KD-infused Warriors obliterated the San Antonio Spurs 4-0 in a series most remembered for the Kawhi Leonard injury saga.
• In 2018, the Dubs survived the #1 seeded Houston Rockets in a seven game series that depending on where you’re from is remembered wildly different. Rox fans swear this all boiled down to Chris Paul getting injured with Houston up 3-2 and running out of gas. Warriors fans remember it as the Hamptons 5 not having Andre Iguodala and the Rockets missing 27 straight three-pointers in the Game 7 in Houston.
• In 2019, Golden State swept the Portland Trail Blazers despite trailing by double-digits repeatedly throughout the series.

And now two lost seasons later, after major injuries and roster upheaval, GSW is right back in the NBA’s penultimate series. This time the Splash Bros will get a chance to get the WCF Texas hat-trick by eliminating the Mavericks after already wiping out the Rockets and Spurs.

But to do so they’ll have to deal with arguably the scariest non-Steph Curry player left in the NBA playoffs: Luka Doncic.

Golden State is undefeated in San Francisco at Chase Center this season, can they keep that going in Game 1? GSW is -210 on the money line per DraftKings.

Golden State Warriors vs Dallas Mavericks

May 18th, 2022 | 6:00 PT

Watch: TNT | Listen: 95.7 The Game, ESPN Radio

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