SAN FRANCISCO - Klay Thompson drained the 3-pointers, Draymond Green anchored the defense - he even chipped in on the offensive end for a change - and Stephen Curry capped off a series MVP performance.
The trio who have led the Golden State Warriors to so much success in the past decade are whole again, and Curry, Green and Thompson have the franchise in position for another title fight after advancing to the NBA Finals with a 120-110 victory over the Dallas Mavericks in Game 5 of the Western Conference title series late Thursday night. Golden State's lone blemish in the best-of-seven series was a 119-109 loss in Game 4 on Tuesday night in Texas.
"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. "That's the mindset we come into this thing with. We understand what it takes to win a championship."
The treasured triumvirate of Warriors are in rarefied air in NBA lore as the core of a team that has made it to six NBA Finals in an eight-year span. It's an accomplishment only the greatest groups have reached: Bill Russell's Boston Celtics of the 1950s and '60s, Magic Johnson's Los Angeles Lakers of the 1980s and Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls of the 1990s are on the exclusive list.
Now the Warriors hope to add a fourth title to the ones they captured in 2015, '17 and '18 with series victories against the Cleveland Cavaliers - Golden State lost to LeBron James and the Cavs in the 2016 NBA Finals, which went all seven games, and lost in six games three years ago to the Kawhi Leonard-led Toronto Raptors - when the NBA Finals start June 2.
"We're happy to be here, but it would help our legacy a lot if we completed the mission and won the whole thing," said Thompson, who danced on the sideline near the end of Thursday's game and was later moved to tears while celebrating with his teammates. "We can be happy tonight, and we will be, I'll celebrate tonight. But tomorrow when this Game 6 comes on, I'm turning the page and I'm scouting, because we want to finish this thing off the right way."
After falling short against the Raptors in the 2019 NBA Finals, the Warriors entered a two-year spiral filled with losses and injuries. Thompson tore his left ACL during Game 6, while Kevin Durant tore his Achilles' tendon earlier in the series and then left that summer to join the Brooklyn Nets.
The roster upheaval played a big part in the Warriors finishing an NBA-worst 15-50 during the 2019-20 season, which was interrupted and shortened by the coronavirus pandemic. Thompson then tore his right Achilles' tendon just before the start of the next season, and the Warriors were unable to make it back to the playoffs, getting knocked out by the Memphis Grizzlies during the play-in tournament.
But Thompson returned in January, and the combination of the aging trio of stars - Green and Thompson are 32, while Curry is 34 - with an infusion of youth from players including Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins has Golden State back among the league's best again.
"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. "I think internally we are all extremely proud of what it took to get back here. Yeah, it's definitely sweet based on what we went through."
Thompson led the way in the clinching win against the Mavericks, making eight 3-pointers for a record-setting fifth time in his playoff career and scoring 32 points.
"This time last year, I was just starting to jog again and get up and down the court. Now to be feeling like myself, feeling explosive, feeling sure in my movements, I'm just grateful," Thompson said.
Green added 17 points, six rebounds and nine assists to go along with his usual defensive brilliance, and Curry had 15 points and nine assists. Curry became the first winner of the Magic Johnson Western Conference finals MVP award.
What the Warriors have done reminds coach Steve Kerr of the Bulls teams he played on with Jordan and Scottie Pippen that dominated the 1990s. Kerr was on board for five of the team's six titles won from 1991 to 1998.
"The common denominator is just talented players who are fierce competitors," Kerr said. "Whether you talk about Michael and Scottie, Steph, Draymond, Klay, it takes a special kind of athlete to have both dynamics. The skill and the athleticism and all that, but to also be just incredibly competitive and to want to win so badly.
"It's the only way you can have a run like that, because you get exhausted, you get tired, you get frustrated. 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."