The Warriors and Thunder reminded us why we love basketball

This NBA season has felt like one long coronation for the Golden State Warriors from the beginning. This was the team that started the year on a 24-game winning streak, the team that produced the first unanimous MVP in league history and the team that broke the most hallowed record of Michael Jordan’s Bulls.

The Warriors made everything look so simple for so long that it was easy to forget what it felt like to see someone really challenge them. For seven games, the Oklahoma City Thunder gave the NBA an emphatic reminder of exactly that. The result was one of the most compelling playoff series the league has seen in a long time.

The Thunder were the perfect foil to Golden State. They were bigger and more athletic, with stars that could shine just as bright. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook didn’t just put up an honorable fight, they pushed the Warriors to the brink. In the process, both teams gave us a showcase that displayed the very best the sport has to offer.

Before we can move on to the Warriors-Cavaliers rematch, the Western Conference Finals demand one last appreciation. Basketball rarely gets much better than this.

Green has long been the Warriors’ beating heart: the former second-round pick who overcame his lack of size with an unbreakable confidence. Somewhere along the way during this series, he shed the underdog persona and replaced it with something more fitting for a WWE heel.

Green hit Adams with a knee below the belt in Game 2, then delivered the infamous kick to Adams’ groin in Game 3. Adams took all of it in stride even as Green avoided suspension, with his low-maintenance demeanor and tough-as-hell play forever earning him status as an NBA cult hero. His only payback came in the form of a poster dunk in Game 6.

Of course, the series couldn’t end without one final chapter, when Green appeared to pull Adams down during a tussle under the basket that looked like a real life DDT. The best part? These guys will be going at each other for a long time. Steven Adams vs. Draymond Green is the rivalry we never requested, but always wanted.

Between Steph Curry’s artistic brilliance and Draymond Green’s rambling swagger, it’s never been easier to forget about Klay Thompson. That changed in Game 6, when Thompson’s 11 three-pointers saved Golden State from teetering off the brink of elimination. It was enough to send owner Joe Lacob to his knees in tribute.

“Light years ahead” is really just coded language for having a legitimate top-20 player as your third wheel.

In Game 2, Dion Waiters had the ball in transition while Durant streaked to the basket and looked to have an open alley-oop opportunity. Instead, Waiters kept dribbling and Durant curled before Waiters delivered the pass and KD drained an elbow jumper. Cameras caught Durant playfully cursing out Waiters after the sequence, which was hilarious even as a good-natured gesture.

The interaction seemed to scar Waiters the next game, when he flinched before Durant could even approach him.

Real friendship is never having to say you’re sorry to Dion Waiters.

Move over, Kyrie and Steph. Anderson Varejão is the new king of handles.

It’s hard to believe Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook have spent eight years together, effectively growing from teenagers to adults during their tenure in Oklahoma City. Durant and Westbrook are still chasing that elusive first championship, but the Western Conference Finals offered another reminder that this the NBA’s most gripping partnership.

Durant and Westbrook are so breathtaking individually (remember, they’ve each won the scoring title) that sometimes it’s easy to forget they complement one another as well as they do. Durant’s measured approach to a historically unparalleled offensive skill set is counter balanced by Westbrook’s raw emotion and athleticism, and vice versa. No matter how hard some try to drive a wedge between them, their friendship seems as strong as ever.

People who think Westbrook shoots too much overlook that he averaged 11.3 assists per game this series. Durant’s critics want to see him shoot more, but he’s the playoffs’ leader in both points (28.4) and field goal attempts (22.4) per game. Speculation on Durant’s impending free agency is just getting started, but where else can he find a teammate as sublimely talented as Russ? Here’s hoping this wasn’t their final ride together.

Take a second to appreciate this picture: