It’s amazing how listening to sports talk radio can strike a nerve. About a year and a half ago, I left the newspaper industry after 18 years to become a Route Sales Representative for Alhambra Water. Route Sales Representative? That would be a fancy way of saying truck driver.
First some primer for the paint.
I spent much of today running my route listening to KGMZ (95.7 The Game, San Francisco) for an assortment of talk radio one day after the Cleveland Cavaliers upset the Golden State Warriors for a 4-3 series win, capping it off with a 93-89 win in the deciding game at Oracle Arena. The Warriors were a heavy favorite in large part because they won a regular season record 73 games, surpassing the 1995-1996 Chicago Bulls who won 72 games but punctuated that season with an NBA title.
In the process of losing, the Warriors became the first team in NBA finals history to cough up a 3-1 lead. There are a variety of factors that people attribute: Draymond Green’s suspension for Game 5 with his role in a dustup with Cavs’ star LeBron James; center Andrew Bogut missing the last two games with a knee injury; Andre Iguodala and Steph Curry being compromised with back and knee injuries. The former is one of few defenders in the NBA that can contain James and the latter is the two-time reigning NBA MVP that won the award unanimously in 2015-2016.
The Warriors went 67-15 in 2014-2015 on the way to win their first NBA title in 40 years. However, from their perspective, too many people called them “lucky” because they did not have to face the LA Clipper or San Antonio Spurs. The Clippers bounced the Warriors 4-3 in the opening round of the 2013-2014 playoffs in what marked the end of the Mark Jackson era and the ushering in of the Steve Kerr era. In the Western Conference semifinals, the Clippers coughed up a 3-1 series lead to the Houston Rockets to lose 4-3. The Spurs, who have won five NBA titles since 1999, were perceived as the Warriors biggest obstacle. The Spurs won the ‘13-’14 title and were the only team to have a winning record against Golden State in ‘14-’15. The Spurs lost to the Clippers in seven games that season.
In the Western Conference finals, the Warriors dispatched the Rockets 4-1. In the NBA finals, Golden State defeated Cleveland 4-2 with much of the narrative being how the Cavs were missing James; sidekicks’ Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love.
The Warriors heard criticism from multiple corners from Charles Barkely to Oscar Robertson to Scottie Pippen to Doc Rivers to James Hardin to name a few. Barkley’s continued narrative was how jumping-shooting teams don’t win NBA titles. Expect, the current cast of Warriors have more titles than Barkley received in his career.
Golden State came charging out of the gate in 2015-2016, winning 24 straight games to start the season. They made a mockery out of the NBA in winning 73 games but in the process came a disturbing trend: a) Can they beat the ‘96 Bulls? b) Can they beat the Showtime Lakers?
Fans and Warrior players alike engaged in that argument, including Klay Thompson. To be fair, Thompson’s dad (Mychael) was a member of the aforementioned teams that actually said his son’s teams would have beaten his Showtime Lakers. Magic Johnson was quick to reply that the Showtime Lakers would beat today’s Warriors. Earlier in the season, Pippen retorted that the ‘96 Bulls would have beaten the current Warriors. These comparisons began as recently as December and yours truly opined -- and made sense:
I know it’s easy to be an after the fact critic but the argument is over since the Warriors couldn’t beat the 2015-2016 Cavaliers. You can give whatever reason you want but all-time great teams don’t blow a 3-1 lead. Period. End of argument. I also think the Warriors and a large segment of their fans overreacted to the cynics. Championship teams don’t concern themselves with the naysayers. Do you think Popovich cares one iota that Phil Jackson called the Spurs ‘99 title in a strike-shortened season an “asterisk?” No. When it comes to titles, you can paint whatever scenario you want. The ‘14-15 Warriors won’t apologize for their title any more than the ‘15-16 Cavs will not apologize for theirs. No more than the 1984-1985 Lakers didn’t give the Boston Celtics any sympathy when Kevin McHale had a broken foot.
The problem is, this is not the first time that premature anointings have been made. In 2007, the New England Patriots set the NFL record for regular season wins going 16-0 and reaching the Super Bowl but lost to the New York Giants 17-14. I remember throughout that season talk shows creating mock matchups of the ‘07 Patriots against the ‘75 Steelers, ‘89 49ers, etc. Well, they couldn’t even beat the ‘07 Giants that went 10-6, end of argument.
The other argument begs did the Warriors put too much effort into winning 73 games? That answer at least deserves a “maybe.” All you need to know is, the Warriors lost as many games in the playoffs as they did the regular season. Watching the last two series against Oklahoma City and Cleveland, one thought crossed my mind, “the Warriors tank may not be empty but it’s not at full capacity.”
Perhaps, the best counter-argument I heard on the radio today is “are the warriors a one-hit wonder?” When I think of one-hit wonders, I think of Brownsville Station’s “Smokin’ in the Boys room.” I don’t think we have seen the last of the Warriors. The Western Conference is still chock full of good teams like Oklahoma City, San Antonio and Portland to name a few. Golden State, however, has a strong nucleus with Curry, Thompson and Green being 28 or younger.
After listening to sports talk all day while driving my Class B truck delivering water, my thought became, “two things are equally true. It was premature to put the ‘15-’16 Warriors among the all-time greats. It’s also premature to call them a one-hit wonder because the best championship teams suffer gut-wrenching losses only to bounce back to win championships.”
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