Volume 4: Golden State Prosperity

Volume Four: Golden State's Golden Age. This stood in stark contrast to the fervent Bay Area fans. Warriors home games were always packed, and even preseason tickets were hard to get. No matter how far behind the Warriors were, few fans ever left early—though, of course, that situation was almost impossible to see at a Warriors home game. Among the Heat, Thunder, Clippers, Rockets, and Cavaliers fans, relations with Warriors fans were especially poor. Strangely, after James left the Heat, the hostility between Warriors and Heat fans disappeared. Instead, Cavaliers fans, who had yet to reach the Finals at the time, became the vanguard of the anti-Warriors movement. In the entire fourth quarter, the Warriors attempted fifteen three-pointers and made eight, scoring 43 points in the quarter and outscoring the Rockets by 16 to complete a massive comeback. Rockets fans were deeply disappointed to see Harden strolling around the court, but considering the huge deficit, they could understand his mindset. Harden went 4-for-12 overall, 1-for-4 from three, and 5-for-7 from the line, finishing with 14 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds, and 4 turnovers in an utterly dreadful performance. His ability to draw fouls was indeed impressive, but 24 free throws in a single playoff game was simply outrageous—enough to rank in the top ten in history. Excluding the three times Little Jordan and O'Neal were sent to the foul line by Hack-a-Shaq, it ranked in the top seven. The Warriors also crushed the Rockets 125-102, sweeping their opponents 4-0 by a large margin for the third consecutive round and advancing to the Finals. Harden had given them hope in the previous game, only to take that hope away today. "I was double-teamed by the Warriors at the end and didn't have a chance to attack the rim. You all saw