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Perhaps one of the most underrated storylines of this 2018-19 Golden State Warriors season has been that this marks the final year that the team will play their home games at Oracle Arena in Oakland.
After this season, the Warriors will play in San Francisco at the newly-christened Chase Center, capping one of the most remarkable eras in franchise history.
Golden State had mostly been renowned for utter mediocrity throughout the 1990s and 2000s, but Oracle became somewhat of a mythical location in the Bay Area, especially after the eighth-seeded Warriors pulled off a historic upset of the Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the 2007 playoffs.
Fast-forward 12 years, and Oracle has become the ultimate home-court advantage for one of the best teams in NBA history. Make no mistake, this Warriors squad is a dynasty, having won three NBA championships in the last four years and making five straight NBA Finals appearances.
But with the Warriors trailing the Toronto Raptors 1-3 in the 2019 NBA Finals, there is a very real chance that the team will have lost each of their final two appearances at Oracle after dropping both Game 3 and Game 4 in Oakland.
However, Klay Thompson the Warriors are determined to give the city one final game as they hope to send the series back to Oakland for Game 6:
“We feel like the city of Oakland deserves one more game.”
Klay Thompson is playing with extra motivation heading into Game 5. #NBAFinals pic.twitter.com/Kns2iZloH5
— NBA TV (@NBATV) June 9, 2019
The ever-confident Draymond Green was more succinct in saying that the Warriors will return home:
Draymond Green when asked about Game 4 potentially being the Warriors game in Oakland: “I didn’t go out thinking like “Oh, this is the last game at Oracle.”
Green said he expects to be back in the Bay for Game 6
— Logan Murdock (@loganmmurdock) June 9, 2019
Golden State faces a steep challenge in Toronto. The Raptors are 8-3 at home in these playoffs, and “Jurassic Park” is sure to be a frenzy with the team having the opportunity to win the championship on their home floor.
