Lots to like – and loath – with Warriors
Golden State have achieved a level of domination that must be admired but lack of competition is also a drag
We waited a year for WarriorsCavaliers III and it looks like it’ll be over in a week, with Golden State one win away from sweeping Cleveland ahead of this afternoon’s game four.
The ease with which the Warriors have stormed past LeBron James and the Cavs have many questioning the benefits of a league dominated by a ‘ super team’, who have far too much talent and, as a result, far too little competition.
But is the powerhouse a scourge or blessing? It’s time to prosecute the case for and against super teams. We watch sport for many reasons but chief among them is the desire to witness greatness.
Whether it’s a transcendent athlete to tell our grandkids about or a singular moment that becomes seared in the memory, we watch sport to see athletic achievements previously thought impossible.
And that incomparability is precisely what the Golden State Warriors have exhibited in the past two years.
It was impossible for any team to surpass the legendary 1996 Chicago Bulls’ regular season record of 72- 10, until Golden State did so last season. It was inconceivable for any team to sweep an entire playoff campaign and finish 16- 0, except Golden State are one game away from doing just that.
Every season of every team sport concludes by crowning a worthy champion. Many are instantly forgettable, their feats almost erased once the next season begins. But not these Warriors.
The efforts of Golden State will shine like a beacon amid the fog that descends when season after season of sporting competition inevitably blurs together.
Few would forget them treating the previous year like an 82- game schedule of must- win contests, refusing to let their standards slip in the chase of immortality.
And, after the Cavaliers stunned the world to steal the title, seeing the suddenly bowed Warriors add Kevin Durant to their glittering array of jewels, we will all remember the revenge mission that’s set to culminate in perfection.
Golden State have won 30 of their past 31 games and their 15- game winning streak in the playoffs is the longest in the history of the Unites States’ four major professional sports.
That total domination should be celebrated or, at the very least, admired and appreciated. As long as we live, we are unlikely to see their ascendancy replicated. We are lucky. There’s nothing lucky about witnessing one team waltz through the playoffs with such ease the games are hardly worth watching. There’s no fortune in seeing the best team in the league add one of the three best players alive, kneecapping one of their closest rivals in the process.
In short, the Warriors have ruined the NBA.
Where once the playoffs were full of intrigue and equally replete with evenly- balanced series, this year, it has been a month- long procession that tomorrow will end with a thoroughly unsurprising coronation.
Golden State were already at the peak of basketball before they shockingly slipped up in last season’s finale. The acquisition of Durant, while within salary cap constraints, was virtually unfair.
To wit, last year the Cavaliers needed every ounce of James’ abundant talents to even force a game seven in the finals. This year, with James averaging 32 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists through three games, they have managed exactly one heart- breaking defeat.
A truly great basketball team led by an all- time icon are being swatted aside with barely a whimper. They’re a mild annoyance, a speed bump on the Warriors’ straightforward route to the title. Which, except for those residing in the Bay Area, is rather boring.
We watch sport for epic blow- forblow battles that occur only when two teams know each other’s every step and match each other’s every move. We watch for games determined by the last shot, won with a piece of individual brilliance rather than collective supremacy.
We watch, in other words, for a bit of competition, something that will never be provided by the runaway freight train that is the Warriors. It depends on personal preference. Last year’s deciding seventh game between Golden State and Cleveland was epic, the ultimate denouement to a titanic duel. But this year, watching Durant and Steph Curry taking turns to drain threes and sink those same Cavs? It’s pretty cool, too.