Stephen Curry says this is best stretch of basketball by current version of Golden State Warriors

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Stephen Curry says this is the best stretch of basketball the Golden State Warriors have played.

The Warriors have won four in a row, dating back to Game 6 of the last round against Memphis.

Curry said on Monday that this is the best this team has played so far. We probably played better in spurts and on the offensive side. To put it all together and for it to lead to wins is all that matters.

The Warriors opened the season winning 18 of their first 20 games before some key injuries slowed them down. The first three games of the Western Conference finals were all decided by nine points or more.

The Mavericks hope for a repeat of what happened when the Warriors had their first chance to close out the Denver Nuggets in the first round and then the Memphis Grizzles in the second round, both on the road.

Golden State was going for a sweep when it lost in Denver. The Nuggets were eliminated in five games at home. In the second round, the Warriors had a chance to win the series in Game 5, but were defeated 134-95 in Memphis. The Warriors trailed by as much as 55 in that one-sided affair before winning the series in six at home.

Curry said that they played sloppy in the first half in Denver. Their home crowd got into it.

In Memphis, we were outmatched from the start and didn't respond well until Game 6. It is extremely hard to close out any team, especially on the road, and you have to bring it.

Draymond Green said on Sunday that the Warriors put a lot of their focus on getting Game 3 because they understood that the Mavericks would not quit.

The Warriors say they will have to focus even higher to eliminate the Mavericks.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr said at the team hotel that he thought they were careless in Denver. I think our guys have improved and learned a lot during these playoffs and I would expect that we learned from those two games that we lost and we will have a more focused effort tomorrow.