Nothing is preordained
Before anything else, let’s be clear about one thing: The Warriors need to win four games to regain the Larry O’Brien Trophy. Even as they shellacked the Cavaliers in the opener of the 2017 National Basketball Association Finals, and even as there is ample evidence to suggest they can easily do the same today and in their next two outings, they still need to perform as projected. Nothing in the league is preordained, not even to arguably the most devastating collection of players in pro hoops annals. Heck, just last year, they won Games One and Two of the championship series by a combined 48 points, only to get the short end of the stick in four of the next five matches and fail to defend their title.
That said, last season’s Warriors are far removed from today’s. They were already spectacular through their 2015-2016 campaign, albeit undone by a freak turn of events that ultimately had the Cavaliers celebrating the greatest comeback in NBA history. That they are significantly more so now given the arrival of all-time-great Kevin Durant speaks volumes of both their attractiveness as a free-agent destination and their exercise of fiscal prudence. And, needless to say, they’re much better built to withstand unforeseen turns of events. It’s why they could miss a ton of shots in the restricted area and see vital cog Klay Thompson shoot like a junior-varsity player and still comfortably prevail by 22 in Game One.
Significantly, the Warriors’ superiority extends on defense, and, again, it’s directly attributable to Durant. His presence and capacity to keep All-World LeBron James at bay by himself means teammates can stick to assignments and, thusly, render the crux of the Cavaliers’ competitiveness inutile. Simply put, they don’t need to pick their poison; in Game One, they let him take on the four-time Most Valuable Player sans help while staying glued to shooters who would have otherwise been open to rain baskets. And they were, for the most part, successful: The drives, devastating against the rest of the NBA, yielded five turnovers and only two shots out of eight attempts.
So, yes, we have ample cause to argue that the Warriors are primed for victory. And, if nothing else, Game One showed us why advanced analytics peg the chances of a sweep to be higher than the odds of the Cavaliers forging a series triumph. Nonetheless, we cannot get ahead of ourselves, not when there are still at least three contests on the calendar, and not when James remains determined to prevail. This is the Finals, after all, where reputations are cemented or shattered. And this, as the league’s tag line underscores, is why they play.
So, yes, we have ample cause to argue that the Warriors are primed for victory. And, if nothing else, Game One showed us why advanced analytics peg the chances of a sweep to be higher than the odds of the Cavaliers forging a series triumph. Nonetheless, we cannot get ahead of ourselves, not when there are still at least three contests on the calendar, and not when James remains determined to prevail. This is the Finals, after all, where reputations are cemented or shattered. And this, as the league’s tag line underscores, is why they play.