The Golden State Warriors won Game 5 on Kings’ court; an unexpected win given Sacramento Kings’ boisterous fans and Dubs’ away-over-home record.

As I absorbed the four quarters of the ecstatic game, I pondered how much of skills, agility, experience, self, and/or synergy culminated in the outcome of the day’s game. I undoubtedly chose “EXPERIENCE.” Experience definitely trumped.

Apples to Apples or Apples to Oranges

Both teams gave it their all. Both teams have elite point guards charged with directing the plays on court. Both teams are skilled at what they do (that is, playing basketball, albeit some might say that the Kings’ younger starters had the better speed and agility over the Dubs’ starters. A conversation for another day. Both teams have great head coaches; not forgetting that Mike Brown, a great man in his own right, was once a Warriors assistant coach. As such, he’s familiar with all the team “secrets” which could have been utilized to his team’s advantage. The parallels are endless. But, toe-to-toe, one significant difference is the depth of experience.

Basketball: a game of Life

As in various aspects of life, be it interviewing for a new job, already on-the-job and being faced with a new challenge or project, being a parent and maneuvering the different stages of your kids’ lives, or merely comparing a five-year-old to a fifteen or fifty-year-old, experiences become your strategic gift to pull out as in a card game. Experience manifested in the Game 5 instance and showed that the race often does not always belong to the swift. The Warriors have been this route a few times before, while the young and energetic Kings players are new to the terrain and will soon learn that the road to the NBA Championship is a marathon, not a sprint.

The road to the NBA Championship is a marathon, not a sprint

Think-Talk

Kings’ Deaaron Fox was impressive as usual racking up 26 points while playing with a fractured thumb. So was Dubs’ indefatigable Curry with 31 points and his Splash brother, Klay Thompson, who equalized the game at 50 all. From then on, it was Dubs all the way till the final whistle.

A momentary and scary snafu occurred when Warriors Gary Patton II fell under Kings Malik Monk leaving the latter on his back for a few minutes. Thank goodness that there was no casualty and Monk was able to bounce back and continue the game scoring rapid points afterwards.

Overall, “it was a big night” (Curry) and a BIG win for the Warriors. Here’s to a BIGGER Game 6 WIN tonight at the San Francisco Chase Center.