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For two playoff runs, the Warriors built every part of their offense around Stephen Curry, and that was good enough–and he was plenty good enough–for one championship and one victory short of a repeat.

That last necessary victory vs. Cleveland last June, however… was a little difficult–or impossible, actually–with Curry struggling through some injuries, shooting a combined 22-for-60 (36.7%) and committing four turnovers in each of the Games 5-6-7 losses after the Warriors went up 3-1 in the series.

Not coincidentally, the Warriors averaged only 95.7 points in those three ultimate losses, after averaging 114.9 points in the regular season and 109.4 in their 21 previous playoff games to that point.

So, what did the Warriors do? They went out and signed Kevin Durant, a virtual offensive co-equal to Curry.

It’s one more part of what I’d call the Warriors’ Doubling Effect–intentionally adding layers of somewhat overlapping talent, from the top of the roster to the bottom, to enhance the best things they do and also protect against injuries or the strongest surges from their opponent.

It’s hard to produce a Curry Double, but Durant is one of the few players who can score in comparably prodigious and efficient ways to Curry and, if Curry is not in rhythm, can take over the offense for minutes at a time the way Curry so often does.

And though they would’ve tried to sign Durant no matter what happened in Games 5-7, there is no doubt that once they lost Game 7, the Warriors targeted Durant as their solution to this First World Problem.

Yes, Curry has so far crushed the Spurs in Games 1 and 2 with relative ease. We know he can do that and might keep doing that.

But how do the Warriors beat a great team when and if Curry isn’t dominating the game, either because he’s physically limited or because the opponent is that good–or if the defense doesn’t have to break down every core principle just to try to slow him down?

How do the Warriors match up against LeBron James if he’s playing his best (Games 5-7 and also right now) and elevating himself above an offense based mainly around Curry?

Answer: Get somebody just as good as Curry, so the Warriors offense can have two centers of magic and gravity.

That’s Durant. We shall see how it works, but already in Game 3 against Utah the Warriors saw Durant rise up to that moment, and I can imagine there will be a few more of those in the Finals, presuming the Warriors get there.

And there is a Doubling Effect throughout the Warriors roster, if you just look closely enough–the Warriors have built a roster and rotation with many interchangeable pieces, arrayed with players who bring different talents but blend in similar ways.

Just look at how many wing defenders they’ve assembled. How easily they can plug in the same switching defense with whatever unit is out there. How Mike Brown and Steve Kerr can mix the starters with the reserves, then drop in the end-of-bench guys, even in the biggest moments.

“That’s Bob Myers,” more than a few Warriors have said to me, pointing to the Warriors GM, when I’ve noted how this roster fits together with so many overlapping talents and personalities.

Myers believes in protective redundancy, in collecting as many versatile players as possible, and of course building it around epic talents like Curry, Durant and Draymond Green, and that–along with great drafting and the team culture and the lure of the Bay Area and this ownership group and Kerr’s leadership–is how you get this roster.

Here are a few more examples…

* HEAD COACH: Steve Kerr and Mike Brown, now essentially serving as dual coaches. The hiring was Kerr’s choice, not Myers’ or Joe Lacob’s, but bringing in Brown as the No. 1 assistant last summer after Luke Walton’s departure was a classic Doubling situation.

Not that anybody wanted to think about Kerr maybe missing more time, it had to be some factor in this–Brown has vast head-coaching experience; Brown is calm enough to take over without panic for Kerr and also secure enough to know that this is still Kerr’s team, even as Kerr misses playoff games.

* THE IGUODALA ROLE: Andre Iguodala, of course, is immensely valuable as the team’s best wing defender and key offensive connector off the bench, but when he missed Game 2 with knee soreness, in stepped rookie Patrick McCaw, who Iguodala has semi-jokingly called his future replacement.

Brown and Kerr also have swung Shaun Livingston into that key reserve responsibility, quite effectively, especially in Game 1 when Iguodala first experienced the soreness.

The Warriors have gone even further on this one, quadrupling-up on this spot by adding Matt Barnes back in March.

None of them can replace everything Iguodala does–when he’s healthy, he’s the back-up point guard, small forward, power forward, and the guy who defends LeBron.

But Iguodala is an incredible luxury for the Warriors as their sixth man, and they have the luxury of luxuries to have several other guys who can also give them good production off the bench in many different spots when Iguodala is out.

*.THE BACK-UP SHOOTING GUARD: Kerr has alternated between Ian Clark, McCaw and now the Warriors are using Livingston in this role, for the 12-15 minutes a game that Thompson is out (and Livingston also moves over to the SF spot at times, too).

When Curry is out there at point guard, the shooting guard gets open looks. It’s almost a rule. So, while none of the back-ups can shoot it anything like Klay, the Warriors get a bit of a Doubling Effect if they put a back-up out there alongside Curry.

* THE CENTER: Obviously a three- or four-man rotation–Zaza Pachulia, JaVale McGee, David West and then Draymond Green to close halves in a small unit.

This is a spot when Myers and his staff purposely loaded with as many interesting big men as they could, with a very limited budget, and knew that Kerr and his staff would figure it out.

These are not at all similar centers, but each has his own effect on the game, and if one or two of them isn’t quite synced up to the game, the Warriors have two others to ride at various points of the game.

* THE DRAYMOND ROLE: It is impossible to duplicate what Draymond can do for the Warriors–his defensive genius, his energy, his stubbornness. I think Draymond might be the most irreplaceable player on this roster, because he is so unique.

But when he has missed games or been in a little funk this season, the Warriors have used Durant to do some of the same multiplicity of things, and it has largely worked.

* DURANT WORK-OUT PARTNER: One day a week, Durant has a post-practice shooting contest with Curry, which is always something to see. And occasionally, Durant has another routine partner–Warriors consultant Steve Nash.

—Through all of this, the top-line Warriors, of course, are unique.

Durant is unique. Curry is unique.

And Draymond and Klay are tremendously valuable and unique, especially in the playoffs, because of their huge defensive roles and the way they fit with various units.

The Warriors wouldn’t be the title favorites without any of their top guys.

But more than any team in the league, they can survive a temporary or even a long absence by almost anybody on their roster–in a way that Cleveland without LeBron or San Antonio without Kawhi Leonard could not–because the Warriors have built this with an assortment of doubled up roles, across the rotation and the playoffs.

It’s sort of like they planned it all along. Which they did.