With a 110-96 victory over the No. 2 Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night at Chase Center, Golden State reached the Western Conference finals for the primary time since their last playoff appearance in 2019. They are going to play the winner of the Phoenix Suns-Dallas Mavericks series, which will probably be settled after Sunday’s Game 7.
The last five times the Warriors made the postseason, they played within the NBA Finals — and three of those appearances ended with championships.
Nevertheless, that is the primary time on this recent run — and just the second time overall — that Golden State entered the playoffs because the No. 3 seed. The Warriors were favored in the primary round and out-seeded within the semifinals, they usually will probably be again if the Suns win. Nevertheless, if the Mavericks can upset the Suns, Golden State can have home-court advantage within the conference finals.
With the conference finals tipping off Wednesday, the Warriors will get a bit of rest and proceed their trend of ending a series early. For the reason that 2014-15 season, once they began their run of consecutive Finals appearances, only three of their 22 series went to a seventh game.
Here’s a take a look at the Warriors’ current path as compared to their five seasons of consecutive Finals appearances.
2021-22
Record: 8-3
Result: Awaiting their conference finals opponent.
How they got there: After earning a gentleman’s sweep over NBA MVP Nikola Jokic and the No. 6 Denver Nuggets, Golden State ousted the No. 2 Memphis Grizzlies in six games with a series that saw the Warriors lose Gary Payton II to a fractured elbow. Nevertheless, the higher-seeded Grizzlies lost their best player, Ja Morant, for the ultimate two games. Memphis looked fantastic in blowing out Golden State in Game 5, but couldn’t complete the rally from a 3-1 series deficit. Now the Warriors await either the No. 1 Suns, who they split 4 games with this season, or the No. 4 Mavericks, who took three of 4.
2014-15
The Warriors have a good time their first championship in 40 years after defeating the Cavaliers on June 16, 2015, at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Golden State won in six games.
Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle
Record: 16-5
Result: Beat the Cleveland Cavaliers within the Finals, 4-2
How they got there: In Steve Kerr’s first season as head coach, the Warriors entered the playoffs with the league’s best record at 67-15. They swept the No. 8 Recent Orleans Pelicans, defeated the No. 5 Grizzlies in six games and needed five games to knock off the No. 2 Houston Rockets to achieve the NBA Finals for the primary time since sweeping the Washington Bullets in 1975. With a six-game series victory over LeBron James and the Cavaliers, Golden State celebrated its first championship in 4 many years.
2015-16
Klay Thompson and Draymond Green walk off the court because the Cleveland Cavaliers have a good time their victory over the Warriors in Game 7 of the NBA Finals on June 19, 2016, in Oakland.
Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle
Record: 15-9
Result: Lost to the Cavaliers within the Finals, 4-3
How they got there: The Warriors entered the playoffs with the most effective regular-season mark in NBA history at 73-9, one win higher than the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls. They dropped one game each to the No. 8 Rockets and No. 5 Portland Trail Blazers, then got here rallies from 3-1 deficits — one good and one unlucky for the Warriors. Golden State stormed back to defeat the No. 3 Oklahoma City Thunder, but within the NBA Finals it couldn’t hold off a historic charge from the Cavaliers, who won Cleveland’s first pro sports title in 52 years.
2016-17
The Warriors hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy after defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers within the NBA Finals to win their second title in three seasons. Golden State won Game 5 at Oracle Arena on June 12, 2017, in Oakland.
Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle
Record: 16-1
Result: Beat the Cavaliers within the Finals, 4-1
How they got there: In what was easily the Warriors’ most dominant run to the title, they swept through the conference, taking down No. 8 Portland, the No. 5 Utah Jazz and No. 2 San Antonio Spurs before defeating the Cavaliers for the second time in three seasons with a gentleman’s sweep. A Game 4 victory by Cleveland prevented Golden State from an ideal postseason, however the 16-1 mark is the most effective in NBA history. The 2000-01 Los Angeles Lakers went 15-1, because the opening round was a best-of-five series then.
2017-18
Stephen Curry walks off the world floor with the Larry O’Brien Trophy after the Warriors defeated the Cavaliers in Game 4 of the NBA Finals at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland on June 8, 2018. It was the Warriors’ third championship in 4 years.
Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle
Record: 16-5
Result: Beat the Cavaliers within the Finals, 4-0
How they got there: This season was the primary of their run where the Warriors didn’t enter the playoffs because the conference’s top seed. No. 2 Golden State dropped only one game each to No. 7 San Antonio and No. 6 Recent Orleans before meeting No. 1 Houston. After the Warriors won the opener, the teams traded blowouts before the Rockets took two close ones for a 3-2 lead. Golden State responded with a rout of its own, then closed out on the road to secure its fourth straight Finals meeting with LeBron James and the Cavaliers. There, the Warriors dominated the series, securing a sweep through which their closest margin of victory was eight points.
2018-19
The Warriors look on in the ultimate seconds of the NBA Finals Game 6 on June 13, 2019, at Oracle Arena in Oakland. Golden State lost to the Toronto Raptors, who won their first league championship.
Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle
Record: 14-8
Result: Lost to the Toronto Raptors within the Finals, 4-2
How they got there: The Warriors went into the playoffs at 57-25, the most effective regular-season record within the Western Conference and third-best overall behind the Milwaukee Bucks (60-22) and the Raptors (58-24). They earned 4-2 series victories over the No. 8 Los Angeles Clippers and No. 4 Houston before sweeping No. 3 Portland to achieve the league’s title round for the fifth consecutive season. Nevertheless, the Warriors would lose greater than the Finals. First, Kevin Durant ruptured his right Achilles’ in Game 5, which was his first motion within the series after missing the previous nine games with a calf injury. Then, Klay Thompson tore his left ACL in Game 6 and, despite leaving with 2:19 left within the third quarter, still led the team in scoring that night. Thompson would later suffer a right Achilles’ injury and in all ended up missing about 2½ seasons before returning Jan. 9 of this season.
Noel Harris is a San Francisco Chronicle staff author. Email: noel.harris@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @NorCalNoel916
