In-flight meeting turned things for Warriors

OAKLAND, California (AP):

A heart-to-heart was in order. As the Golden State Warriors made the long, frustrating flight home from Oklahoma City last week suddenly facing elimination, Draymond Green gathered with a few fellow starters at a table in the front of the plane to discuss how to get the defending champions back to winning and fast.

No other choice to avoid a premature end to this record-setting season.

"We just kept talking about what we needed to do and what we were going to do," Green said.

Somehow, six days later, the Warriors had won Game Seven with a third straight victory against the Thunder after falling behind 3-1 in the best-of-seven series.

Now, they are headed back to the NBA Finals for a rematch with LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, the title defence still very much within reach.

Game One is tomorrow night on Golden State's Oracle Arena home floor.

Never lost confidence

"We never lost confidence and every game we just played with fearlessness and that confidence that we could get back to the Finals, however we had to get it done," MVP Stephen Curry said after his 36-point performance in Monday night's 96-88 clincher of the Western Conference finals.

"I knew we were ready for the moment. We were a mature basketball team that tried our best not to listen to the noise outside when six, seven days ago, we were down 3-1, everybody thought the wheels were falling off and it was kind of the end of our run," Curry said. "But in that locker room, the talk was positive.

It was, 'Let's figure this out. Let's go out and take it one game at a time and claw our way back into the series and see what happens'. We followed that kind of mindset these last three games."