Bay Area hasn’t toasted a title at home since ’74
The hours on a strange claim in Bay Area history may be dwindling down. Vida Blue, Rollie Fingers and Joe Rudi might want to get in one last toast, with a nod to the dearly departed Catfish Hunter.
For the first time since that 1974 Amazin’ A’s team clinched the World Series at the Oakland Coliseum by beating the Dodgers in five games, another Bay Area sports team may finally be able to celebrate a championship in its home venue.
Next door to where history was made almost 43 years ago, the Golden State Warriors could craft their own legend Monday night at Oracle Arena as they try to close out the NBA Finals
against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“It would be a great night to get it done, to take advantage of the home crowd and the energy,” Warriors guard Stephen Curry said. “
How poorly we played in Game 4, to make the necessary adjustments energy-wise and focus-wise. We’re in really good shape to have this opportunity. We’re looking forward to it.”
The energy and focus that the home crowd brings could help the Warriors, who got punched in the mouth on the road in Game 4 and never recovered after being pummeled in the first three minutes.
Cleveland rode its home crowd’s energy and fire for 93 of the 96 minutes the Cavaliers played at home, losing Game 3 only because the Warriors closed it out with an 11-0 run to win, 118-113.
A reminder to the high rollers at Oracle: Get back to your seats at the start of the second half. A huge swath of the best seats in the house, including the courtside thrones belonging to owner Joe Lacob, stayed empty for the beginning of Game 2’s third quarter. Back then, the series felt like a foregone conclusion.
No longer. And while 16-0 would have been a historic accomplishment, it’s still just a number. What people will remember in a quarter century is that the Warriors against the Cavs has become our era’s best sports rivalry.
The TV ratings have been off the charts. The games have an All-Star cast. The heat between these teams, in their third consecutive meeting in the Finals, is the kind of competition that writes itself into the history of the sport.
Pity the poor basketball “fans” who want only to see the Warriors roll, the ones who said they turned off Game 4 early when it was clear the Cavaliers were going to win.
Those people are missing history, complete with Kevin Durant and LeBron James mixing it up, a Draymond Green near-meltdown, a Zaza Pachulia groin-punching incident and one of the more embarrassing officiating moments in NBA Finals history. That’s the stuff that people will be talking about in 2047, if we’re all still here.
“I think it’s great for the league, what’s going on right now,” said Curry, who has not faced an opponent in the Finals other than Cleveland. “There’s great story lines. For us to be back in this situation for the third time — the level of competition and intensity is unbelievable, especially when you have that history with the opposing team.”
The Warriors will be in a much better position Monday than they were in Game 5 last June. They will start Green, who was serving a one-game suspension last year for his flagrant foul on James.
They will start Durant. They will start a healthy Curry. Big changes from a year ago.
They certainly want to clinch Monday and not let further doubt creep in. They don’t want to go back to Cleveland. They don’t want to hear the chants of “Cavs in se-ven!” that filled Quicken Loans Arena late in Game 4.
Golden State coach Steve Kerr, who won five championship rings as a player, won titles both on the road and at home.
“Equally as satisfying,” Kerr said. “Doesn’t matter where you win it, you just want to win it.
“In every series you want to do exactly what we’ve done. Win the first two and get a split. So we’re right where we want to be. Disappointed we didn’t play better the other night, but aware that we are playing a great team. They were desperate and they outplayed us. … We would love to take care of business.”
Their fans would love it, too. Especially those longtime fans who stuck with this team during decades of losing.
The San Francisco 49ers won Super Bowl XIX at Stanford, but that wasn’t the same. It wasn’t at home, where players know the nooks and crannies, where they’re welcomed by old friends on the venue staff, where the same people they’ve seen for years are in their same seats.
The 1989 A’s won a championship a few miles from home at the Giants’ Candlestick Park, but that was definitely not the same, coming on enemy territory and after the devastation of the Loma Prieta earthquake and an unprecedented 11-day break between Games 2 and 3.
You have to go back to the damp, chilly night of October 17, 1974, to Rudi’s solo home run in the seventh, to Reggie Jackson throwing out Bill Buckner, to Fingers — the eventual World Series MVP — getting the final out and leaping into his teammates’ arms. To the celebration in Oakland.
All championships are cool. The ones at home are a little bit cooler.