LOS ANGELES – Steph Curry knew this season might be different back in June, when Kevin Durant tried that routine crossover in Game 5 of the NBA Finals and wound up with an Achilles tendon tear that changed everything for the once-mighty Golden State Warriors.



He knew it even more after Game 6, when Klay Thompson’s spill and nightmarish diagnosis – torn ACL – had spelled their end against Toronto while instantly raising questions about what might lie ahead. Even if Durant and Thompson came back in free agency, they all thought at the time, this road was about to get rougher.



And then Durant bolted for Brooklyn.



But it’s one thing to see a brutal challenge coming in the distance and quite another to finally live it. After those five consecutive Finals appearances and three titles, with the Warriors earning labels like “invincible” and “unfair” all along the way while feeling that sense of superiority every...