Klay Thompson On How Dangerous The Cavaliers Were For The Warriors In The Finals: "That Was A Nasty Big 3, Man. They All Brought The Best Out Of Each Other."

Klay Thompson reflects on his matchups against the famous Cavaliers Big 3 in the 2010s.

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The Golden State Warriors had to fight hard to sit on the throne of the NBA. An up-and-coming team, the Dubs had big chances to create something good in the mid, late-2010s. It wasn't easy, but they manage to win three NBA championships in five trips to the NBA Finals from 2015 through 2019. 

During that time, they faced big rivals, but their biggest obstacle to get rings was the Cleveland Cavaliers. This team was assembled to beat the Warriors, and many thought they would do it, but a series of unfortunate events weakened the Cavs, who couldn't compete against Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and Klay Thompson. 

This trio took the Warriors to the top of the world in 2015, and then faced the Cavs the next three seasons, losing one series (2016) and easily winning the other two, helped by the addition of Kevin Durant. 

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Klay Thompson On How Dangerous The Cavaliers Were For The Warriors In The Finals

Even though at some point, the series was lopsided given the power the Warriors had with their superteam, the Cavs were clear dominators of the East and even hinted to make life harder for the Warriors, especially in that infamous Game 1 of the 2018 NBA Finals. 

Recently, Klay Thompson sat down with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson on a recent edition of SHOWTIME's "All the Smoke." Thompson talked about those Cavs and how they proved to be a hard rival to the Warriors. The Cavaliers even won the 2016 Finals returning from a 3-1 deficit, and many people thought they would win in 2015 if it wasn't for injuries (50:50).

"That was a nasty big three, man. They all brought the best out of each other, but the fact that they got even two wins is a testament to Bron, the role guys did their job. Shump was a tough defender, they had toughness on that team. It's like if you don't put shooting around LeBron, you're not gonna get the most out of him. So they were still really good.

"Obviously not 2016, but they didn't shy away from the moment. And like, they had us on the ropes 2-1. We had a question ourselves, like, man, do we really want this? But it was, it was awesome, man. Like, that was that was surreal. We got the job done.

But yeah, Bron is a beast. My goodness, he was like a triple-double last series. I don't care what the shooting splits were. You had to shoot all the shots and. It's incredible. Then I give the other guys guys credit too, because just they didn't deflate when Kyrie and KLove went out."

The Cavaliers might have looked like an easy matchup for the Warriors, but it was the complete opposite. They had a version of LeBron James that could do anything, and the King always had big teams around him, trying to beat the Warriors. If they are a dynasty, it's because the Cavs made them better and prepared them for a lot of challenges that came after. 

Golden State faced two other teams in the Finals, the Toronto Raptors in 2019, losing in six games, and last season, the Boston Celtics took them to six games before Stephen Curry took over and beat the young Celtics team.  

Their duels with those Cavaliers were memorable, and just like Klay, the rest of the players must appreciate them, as the Warriors were forced to improve every year due to the Cavs looming and waiting for their chance to dethrone them.