The Warriors continue to defy odds

The Warriors have repeatedly defied the odds, culminating in overcoming a 3-1 deficit. They will need to do so again to be champions.

The Golden State Warriors defy the odds at every step of the way.

As a franchise, the Warriors are supposed to be cellar dwellers, banished to the bottom of the standings. They’re supposed to be a fun offensive team without any toughness and defensive intensity. They’re supposed to mess up on every level. And so on and so forth.

For a good part of their professional careers, many members of the Warriors have been told they can’t do something or other. Stephen Curry was just a shooter, lacking the size and skills to be a franchise playerr. Draymond Green was too small, too slow, too loud, too everything to be a competent NBA player. Andrew Bogut and Shaun Livingston were too injury prone to play a full career. And so on and so forth.

As a team, Golden State is supposed to lose to bigger teams. They are supposed to lose when their long-range shots aren’t falling. They are too soft to have any kind of success against teams that play them physically. They aren’t supposed to beat “healthy” teams. They shouldn’t have won 73 games. And so on and so forth.

And yet, they continue to break what they’re “supposed” to do. The Warriors are re-writing history and destroying narratives one game at a time.

When you fall behind 3-1 to a team that features two of the league’s top-five players, you shouldn’t win that series. Right off the bat, the Warriors lost home court advantage, leaving Oracle Arena with a shocking loss after Game 1. They bounced back in Game 2, but then were hit by multiple haymakers in Games 3 and 4. They suffered two embarrassing losses and the series looked like it was over.

And it would have been had the trailing team not been the Golden State Warriors.

History wasn’t on their side. But the Warriors do best when things aren’t on their side. They play best when they have to take victories away from the other team, crushing dreams in the process. They prefer to shock the world, proving every single doubter wrong.

The Warriors became just the 10th team in NBA history to overcome a 3-1 deficit. It wasn’t just winning three games in a row that was impressive, it was recovering from falling so hard in Games 3 and 4. It was one of the most incredible comebacks in league history as the Warriors, who looked like a lottery team early on in the series, returned to playing the type of basketball that won them a title and 73 games the year after.

This is what the Golden State Warriors, as presently constructed, do. These guys defy the odds, over and over again. It’s hard to say that a team that has won as much as they have over the lsat few years are ever the underdogs, but they, surprisingly, have been. People have counted them out. They have championship resolve.

This is what the Warriors will need to continue to do as they go up against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Defy the odds. Beat one of the greatest players in NBA history with a revamped supporting staff.

If anyone can do it, the Warriors can.