With the NBA season wrapping up how the majority of observers predicted it would for the second consecutive season, where does that leave us?
All year, the basketball world tried and tried again to make mountains out of molehills and volcanoes out of mountains each time the Cleveland Cavaliers or Golden State Warriors dropped two games in a row, or had an injury, or missed a free throw. Our insatiable thirst for content has driven us portraying the normal ebbs and flows of an 82-game season as real trouble for the league’s two best teams of the last half decade. We’re all stupider for feeding into it, by whichever means we choose to do it. But now that it’s all over, let’s step back and sift through the debris of what this latest championship means for one of the NBA’s all-time great teams.
What it means for Stephen Curry
Steph Curry now has three championships, the same as LeBron James. That fact might be the cherry on the sundae of what has turned into a stellar career nobody would’ve predicted. His three rings and two MVPs have him in rarefied air, and his unique skill as the greatest shooter in history puts a strain on defense in ways we’ve never seen before.
The true magic of Steph is that he (and to a lesser extent Klay Thompson) force teams to basically defend 30 feet from the basket. It opens up driving lanes for Curry, easy Draymond Green lob passes after traps, indefensible back cuts and open jumpers for the other Warriors snipers.
The reasons to dislike Curry are still alive and well. The fake humbleness, the showboating, the special “he’s injured (after a bad game)….SIKE! He’s incredible! (after a good game)” treatment, etc. And it’s amazing how far a little talent and a little luck can take a player and a franchise.
Curry’s largely one-dimensional nature makes him not the best point guard you’ll find, but he’s a transcendent player in the perfect situation, which has yielded him the best résumé of any point guard post Magic Johnson. And that’ll be enough to have him viewed as a top 20 player all-time (at least) when he hangs up his nurse shoes.
What it means for Kevin Durant
Another ring, another Finals MVP—he’s just building off of last year at this point.
Durant authored one of the great Finals performances ever in Game 3. He basically didn’t miss, and when you compile this year’s Finals with KD’s 2017 and 2012 campaigns, in aggregate he’s proven to have a knack for rising to the occasion (31.7 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 4.9 assists on 67% true shooting in 14 career Finals games), regardless of whichever team he’s a member.
But his newfound team success comes at a cost. We’ve heard of players having “empty stats” (putting up good numbers that don’t translate to wins), however Kevin Durant may be the case study for putting up “empty titles”.
These are the rules of engagement when a player of Durant’s caliber joins up with a 73-win team that already won a championship and went to Game 7 of another Finals without him. You get to spill champagne in the locker room, preen on a float during the parade and receive your ring on opening night the following year. You concede being considered one of the greatest of the greats.
HHSR actually did an even better job explaining this concept two years ago.
Given the impact Steph, Klay and others have on a defense (referenced above), Durant’s job on a nightly basis is infinitely easier than it ever was in Oklahoma City. He gets cleaner looks, he gets more space to operate, and he can expend more energy doing things like playing defense (something he’s just now getting credit for this year after a decade in the league), and it’s all caused by teammates that demand respect 30 feet from the hoop. It’s mentally and physically draining on a defense, and KD reaps the rewards of this as much as anyone.
People foolishly put him ahead of LeBron after last year’s Finals, neglecting the minimized responsibility Durant now carries as a Warrior. The only people who should call KD “top 10” or say he’s better than LeBron are the people who honestly believed that when he was still in OKC.
We wouldn’t revere Mike Jordan the way we do if it weren’t for him overcoming the Ls to the Celtics and Pistons handed him. It’s part of the story: “Jordan’s determination finally broke thru against the Bad Boy/Jordan Rules Pistons before finally snatching greatness”. As great as he is, Durant did the exact opposite. His own coach labeled him “the ultimate luxury”—that’s not exactly a compliment.
Kevin Durant made his choice. He can enjoy his hardware, but this shit…
KD is building that legacy big-time!
— Chris Broussard (@Chris_Broussard) June 7, 2018
is unacceptable. And the media ought not be this irresponsible.
What it means for the Warriors
It’s not an accident the two biggest flip-switchers met in their fourth straight NBA Finals. Sadly, for basketball fans everywhere, the outcome was far too easily predictable. The math equation on this series was quite simple:
Golden State’s super team + an extra year together + championship experience + a shaky Cavs team – Kyrie Irving = Warriors in four.
The Warriors were heavy favorites, deservedly so. They were never unbeatable (they were honestly a Chris Paul hamstring away from watching the 2018 Finals at BW3), but three championships in four years now officially solidifies Golden State as the greatest team of this era, and one of the best ever. We knew that. Yet lost in all of the Kevin Durant bashing and the general annoyance that now accompanies every conversation about the Warriors monopoly is the utterly remarkable selflessness exhibited by this team.
Two MVPs are able to work in concert. A third player capable of dropping 37 in a quarter and 60 on 11 dribbles rarely says a peep about his role. Meanwhile, a loudmouth undersized center does all the talking in the world on the court, but never says a word against his teammates, nor does he actively lobby for a larger role in the offense. A former All-Star and Finals MVP is perfectly fine with his sixth-man gig, one he assumed long before his body betrayed him.
You might think it’s the shooting, but the selflessness — being able to stuff the dreaded “disease of more” in a box — is for what this legendary team should be most remembered. And maybe it won’t last forever, but it’s lasted long enough to get three in four seasons, with the lone loss coming by four points in Game 7 of the Finals. Better yet, Golden State may have gotten their ultimate revenge on LeBron by breaking his team once and for all.
Put it this way: Even though he’s earned every right to sign shorter contracts to force management into making aggressive moves, if the Warriors’ incumbent stars conducted their business the way LeBron James does, Kevin Durant never would’ve gone there. And THAT is the true embodiment of #StrengthInNumbers.
Click here to read Part 2 of our NBA Finals Fallout on the Cavaliers.