The Golden State Warriors won their 72nd game, a perfect response to all the offseason criticism.
The Warriors were lucky that they didn’t face any healthy teams last year.
But before the luck ever kicked in, it was clear that they were a fluke. Their 67 wins was an example of catching lightning in a bottle–the Warriors were a random storm in the middle of a hot summer. Stephen Curry was just a shooter. Draymond Green was too small. The Warriors are perennial losers that just happened to catch fire for a year and would fade away into obscurity once again as soon as the rest of the NBA figures out their gimmick.
All summer long, the Warriors had to hear how their title was false, stamped with a monumental asterisk. The Cleveland Cavaliers, with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, were crowned the next NBA champions. Golden State wouldn’t finish on top of the Western Conference, not with the mighty San Antonio Spurs, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Los Angeles Clippers in their way. There was always something that stopped last year’s Warriors from deserving credit.
A title defense is very hard. Not just from a physical standpoint, but mentally as well. The championship hangover is a real obstacle, the desire to scratch and claw for that title lessens after getting one. There’s a target on the winning team’s back and no one had a bigger target than these Golden State Warriors.
Instead of a letdown, the Warriors came out firing with no regard for human life, shout out to Kevin Harlan. They’ve broken nearly every record you could think of. They surpassed the best start in NBA history by a lot. They have set the record for most road losses in a single season. They became the first team in league history to never lose consecutive games. While they were re-writing the league’s history books, they still had one chapter left to re-write: the all-time single season record.
After being told that they were lucky, hearing doubters say that x team matches up with them well because they’re too (fill in the blank) for the Warriors, they came out and beat them all. The blew the Cavs out with Irving and Love. They blew the San Antonio Spurs out then beat them in AT&T Center, a place where the Warriors hadn’t won in 33 regular season games. They’ve dominated the Thunder and the Clippers.
The went from being one of the best teams in league history to being the greatest team to ever step on a basketball court. The Warriors won 72 games, shattering every record and making light work of another historically good team, in a non-expansion year. The NBA’s talent level has never been higher. This is the greatest team of all-time.
Winning 72 games is a middle finger to all the naysayers and doubters. That’s why Green wanted to chase it so much. They showed last year was a fluke because they could play even better. After being told they weren’t that good, they now have made themselves equals with the best basketball has had to offer. Now Steph Curry, who will win his second consecutive MVP, now stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Michael Jordan.
Winning 72 games wasn’t just the perfect response for the Golden State Warriors; it was the only one.