It probably seems unfair, criminal even, to say anything remotely negative about the Golden State Warriors.
A likeable team blessed with likeable (and talented) players, who hired a likeable coach to replace the last divisive guy. They play in a likeable city, in a likeable arena in front of likeable fans. Their MVP superstar point guard is über likeable, with his incredibly likeable family (I actually met his father a couple of years ago— to the surprise of no one he was very pleasant) and likeable loveable daughter. Even their teams that didn’t go anywhere were likeable, such as the Run TMC group of the early ’90s and the Baron Davis-led group of 2007 (okay, maybe the owner wasn’t all that likeable at one point).
So forgive this unpopular position: although the 2014-15 Golden State Warriors are a worthy NBA Champion, it’s completely fair to wonder…just how good are they really?
Everyone who has ever followed sports knows there are several ingredients that make up a championship team. A star player, a smart coach— experience isn’t absolutely necessary, but it usually helps. One, yes ONE, crazy guy is a prerequisite for some. But one unquestionable prerequisite that every team to ever win a championship in any sport is the presence of lady luck. As you quietly scan the corners of your memory bank, you’ll notice it’s extremely hard to come up with a team that was the recipient of more good fortune than these Warriors.
Golden State fans aren’t apologizing, they’ll take it anyway they can get it. Understood. And even HHSR picked a Warriors/Cavs matchup at the start of the NBA Playoffs, so it’s not as if the Dubs hoisting up the Larry O’Brien trophy was all that hard to fathom. The Warriors have held the league’s best record all season though, and broke several records for three-point shooting. They had a double-digit point differential at the end of the year. They were the NBA’s top statistical offense AND defense for the majority of 2014-15. They were an astonishing 59-0 in games they led by at least 15 points at any point during the game. They were the darlings of the analytics world, their GM stole the Executive of the Year Award (from the Cavs David Griffin). Their coach was runner-up for Coach of the Year, their young forward was runner-up for Defensive Player of the Year and their point god won league MVP.
All of the regular season accolades were well deserved, but this was in large part due to how stunningly healthy this team was from start to finish. The only regular player who missed anything resembling significant time was center Andrew Bogut, who appeared in only 67 of a possible 82 games (even that is still pretty good). Meanwhile, the Warriors top five players in terms of minutes per game — Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Harrison Barnes and Andre Iguodala — all missed a combined 15 games for the entire season and playoffs!
Compare that to other contenders who saw their best players suffer injuries that kept them out for significant chunks of the season and or the playoffs; it’s mind-blowing. How many times were the Chicago Bulls asked to take the floor with a limited Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah, or without them altogether? What would the Washington Wizards have done if John Wall doesn’t break his hand in five places? What about the Atlanta Hawks, who suffered from a slew of injuries by the time the clock struck midnight on their season? Remember Chris Paul willing his team to victory in Game 7 versus the Spurs? He missed time in the following series.
These are just a few examples, but you get the idea. Golden State wasn’t just lucky in terms of injuries— their picture perfect season-long bill of health is borderline historic.
ESPN’s Ryen Russillo was right to go all in on Dub Nation.
The Warriors playoff run itself was more of the same. In a Western Conference that was considered to be as strong as it’s ever been, where any team one through eight was believed to have a legitimate shot making the Finals as recently as late March, the Dubs managed to waltz through the West relatively unscathed. Why? Because the matchups broke perfectly. Forget for a moment that had Kevin Durant come back healthy, OKC could’ve very easily been the eight seed facing “The City” out the gate, a first round series against a young upstart provided no real test (other than this memorable game). The Warriors found themselves in a semi finals matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies, whose defensive ace Tony Allen and savvy floor general Mike Conley were both far less than 100% (Conley, if you recall, played the series with a broken face).
Following a six game victory over Memphis, the Dubs were shocked (I’m guessing) to find themselves battling the Houston Rockets for the Western Conference crown. Houston heisted their semi finals series against the Clippers when L.A. essentially fell asleep at the wheel and forgot the finish the job. Anyone who watched those games would tell you the Clippers were the better team, but simply fell victim to a flukey sequence of events that eventually snowballed into palpable self-doubt and ultimately a monumental collapse.
Sidebar: The Clips won games by 16 (on the road without Chris Paul), 25 and 32 points, and held a 19-point lead late in the third quarter of Game 6 before folding. You CANNOT convince me they weren’t better than Houston. But, as author Kenneth Hicks once said, “Sometimes, the Hornets trade Kobe.”
Of course, the Clippers snuffed the Spurs in the quarter finals. San Antonio was the one team that A) gave Golden State the most trouble during the season B) had a decided advantage at head coach (pupil Kerr versus “The Architect” Popovich) and C) had a distinct advantage in the experience department— and not just with the old guys either. The Spurs were the team we deemed the Dubs “didn’t wanna see” before the postseason began, but the Warriors sidestepped them and the Clippers like a Rachel Dolezal interview question. These were the next two best teams in the vaunted Western Conference and Golden State played neither of them.
And then there’s the NBA Finals, where a wounded Cleveland Cavaliers team awaited Dub Nation. Having lost their starting center Anderson Varejao early in the season, then their starting power forward Kevin Love early in the playoffs and their starting point guard Kyrie Irving early in the Finals, the Cavs were basically a one-man-band before the first game even concluded. As Uncle Drew’s body betrayed him (old folks, smh) in overtime of Game 1, the Cavs missed their window to take advantage of Golden State’s discomfort in the moment (even the timing of the opposition’s injuries worked to their advantage). Before long, fourth, fifth and sixth options for Cleveland were forced into second, third and fourth options, putting role players in unfamiliar territory with an insane spike in minutes that was ultimately too much to bear.
Irving and Love are All-NBA talents, not All-Star, ALL-NBA talents. Varejao was the one player who was in line to see significant minutes that LeBron had some previous familiarity with, and the Cavs starting shooting guard from opening night, Dion Waiters, was dealt in January. This Cleveland team that reinvented itself three times this year with a “rookie” coach while limping to the finish line literally and figuratively managed to push Golden State to six games and had a legitimate shot at winning Games 1 and 5. Half of this series, LeBron’s sidekick was Matthew Dellavedova, the other half it was Tristan Thompson or Timofey Mozgov.
James said it best after the Game 6 defeat. His team just “ran out of talent.” And the back-handed compliment he paid the Warriors told the story of these NBA Finals.
Not surprisingly, Stephen Curry had different feelings about what he and his troops accomplished this season.
“It’s hard in the moment to really understand what 67 wins means in the grand scheme of the history of the NBA — how hard that is. But also, to cap that off with a championship playoff run,” Curry said. “And, I think we’re definitely a great team and a team that should go down in history as one of the best from top to bottom.”
Of course Chef Curry is going to have these feelings. On paper, the Warriors run was epic. Their 83 combined regular season and playoff wins are third most all-time, behind only the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls (87) and the 1996-97 Bulls (84). But this position ignores the inordinate amount of breaks this team caught that stretch even beyond the major ones already mentioned. After claiming MVP, Curry cruised into the playoffs against four teams whose starting point guards were all either playing injured or were out altogether. Free agent moves, like the acquisition of Shaun Livingston worked. The Steve Kerr hire absolutely worked, as did Kerr’s move to ask former All-Star Andre Iguodala (Finals MVP) to come off the bench. Moves that general manager Bob Myers didn’t make (the Klay Thompson/Kevin Love swap) worked.
You knew this was coming.
Everything worked! Everything NEVER works!
The reason why we know Celtics and Lakers of the 80s were great was because we got to measure them against one another. But if Golden State isn’t measured against the proper competition, or even the proper conditions, who’s to say how good they really are? That’s like making someone the top pick in the NFL Draft strictly because they had an awesome pro day. Where’s the substance? Where’s the context?
Every champion catches break here or there, but none in recent memory more than this Warriors team. So little adversity was faced, so much good fortune from start to finish. With the season on the line and the final exam about to begin, the Warriors found out their test was of the open-book variety moments before the scantrons were passed out. It’s no surprise they passed with flying colors. After watching LeBron James get carried out on his shield in Game 6 and knowing how dazzling Irving looked in Game 1 playing at less than 100%, it’s beyond reasonable to believe Cleveland would’ve snapped its 51-year title drought had their star guard managed to say on the court.
Any time a team wins a championship, the infallible “hot sports take” the following morning is a feeble attempt at extrapolating their seemingly inevitable championships to come. The Dubs are young, gifted and their two most expensive players (Andrew Bogut & David Lee) were not a vital part to their success. Putting them back in next year’s Finals is a completely defensible position to take. The reality though is this team will not be this remarkably lucky next season. Kerr basically acknowledged it himself to begin his media session after Game 6.
“We were fortunate in a lot of ways this year,” he said. “Maybe number one was health. And to win a title, there’s obviously a lot of work, but a lot of luck as well, and we had a lot of luck on our side this year. And our guys took advantage of it, and they were fantastic.”
Some say it’s better to be lucky than good— it’s actually best to be both. But honestly, the likelihood Golden State fails to make it out of the first round of the West in 2016 is much higher than you’d probably think— just ask the Spurs.
The future may be bright or bleak for this team, but we live in the present. The beautiful part of this entire scenario is pretty soon, nobody will care about the ancillary details that made up this 2014-15 Warriors season. The record books will only indicate that they won the title. On opening night next season, they’ll receive their rings and lift a championship banner to the roof of Oracle Arena just the same. It’s not the Warriors fault they were robbed of the opportunity to live up to their nickname; they simply played who was in front of them, and one team after another would catch a fade.
The Warriors deserved to be crowned king, but they will have to prove much more to reach the “all-time” status many of their statistical achievements would suggest they’ve already attained. A dynasty may come, but right now they’ll have to settle for destiny.