Some people think the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers’ dominance is bad for the NBA, but it’s just another chapter in an NBA history book full of dynasties.
When we try to write the history of the NBA, we inevitably start by breaking it up into dynasties and eras. The Celtics of the ’60s. Bird and Magic clashing in the ’80s. Jordan’s Bulls in the ’90s. Kobe and Shaq’s Lakers in the early 2000s. The Celtics’ Big Three. LeBron’s last decade.
More from Warriors News
- 3x champion may come to regret forgoing Golden State Warriors reunion
- Golden State Warriors: History shows USA may need Stephen Curry for more than the Olympics
- Golden State Warriors villain pours on more pain to end USA’s World Cup
- Golden State Warriors: Stephen Curry continues philanthropic efforts off the court
- The Dream starting 5 for the Warriors 5 years from now
Those are the big-picture things we remember. Nobody specifically recalls that one time the SuperSonics beat the Bullets in the 1979 NBA Finals or when the Rockets swept the Magic in the 1995 championship. It’s not to take away from the accomplishment; it’s just that, in the large context of NBA history, it’s relatively insignificant.
There’s a reason why we remember those epic Bird-Magic duels, why we still talk about Michael Jordan today, why Bill Russell is still relevant. It’s because their teams were dominant, good enough to reach the championship year after year while everyone else was playing catch-up.
Sound familiar?
This is why all the talk about the Warriors being boring or how a third consecutive Finals matchup between the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers would be bad for the league is crazy to me. True, both teams ran through the first two rounds of the playoffs without breaking a sweat, and it’s entirely possible that both reach the Finals undefeated in the postseason.
But that doesn’t make the Warriors or the Cavaliers boring. It doesn’t mean the league has been horrifically ruined by these two super teams. This is just the next iteration of NBA history — the next Lakers vs. Celtics, the next Jordan vs. the world. To think otherwise is to disregard everything that has made the NBA the popular league it is today.
Having followed the Warriors since I knew what basketball was, it’s offensive when people argue how they’re ruining basketball, how they’re everything that’s wrong with the NBA. The Warriors drafted Stephen Curry. They drafted Klay Thompson. They drafted Draymond Green. Five teams passed on Steph (bless you, Timberwolves), nine passed on Klay and every team passed on Draymond. It’s not the Warriors’ fault these three guys fell to their laps, not their fault that they developed into superstars and definitely not their fault that — as a result — the team became good enough to lure Kevin Durant.
It wasn’t rocket science. It wasn’t some convoluted way in which the Warriors managed to manipulate and screw up the league (i.e., it wasn’t LeBron bailing to Miami to form a super team and then bailing to Cleveland to form another). The Warriors built their dynasty the right way, from the ground up. They play basketball the way it’s supposed to be played: with a free-flowing offense, quality spacing and marvelous shooting, the ball movement and unselfishness that is hard to find amongst a team of stars. Watching the Warriors and then switching to a Rockets game where James Harden holds the ball for 99 percent of the shot clock makes me want to vomit.
The Warriors’ dominance only adds to the narrative, to the epic trilogy to come. You have KD and the “Super Villains” trying to topple LeBron and the Cavs, the same Cavs that humbled the 73-win Warriors a year ago. You have LeBron trying to reach the mantle of Jordan, and beating the Warriors again would certainly bolster his resume. You have All-Stars and future Hall-of-Famers on both rosters, all trying to define their legacy. The fact that Mike Brown might get to coach in the Finals against his former team is probably the seventh or eighth biggest headline.
Look at all of that, and tell me if you still think the NBA is ruined. If you do, then explain how you feel about the Bulls winning six championships in eight years in the ’90s or the Lakers and Celtics swapping titles every year in the ’80s. If you don’t want to see the Warriors and Cavaliers face off in the Finals again, then tell me which two teams you’d rather see. Rockets-Wizards? Spurs-Celtics? Please.
When we look back at this era of the NBA in 20 years, we’ll be talking about the rise of Golden State and Steph Curry. We’ll talk about the 73-win Warriors and how LeBron toppled them in unprecedented fashion. And we’ll talk about whatever happens next month, whether the Warriors exact their revenge or LeBron does the unthinkable again.
Next: Top 20 Draft Picks in Warriors History
What we will not talk about — a) because it won’t happen and b) because it would bore people to sleep — is how James Harden won Finals MVP and the Rockets swept the Wizards in the lowest-rated NBA Finals in history since Spurs-Pistons in 2005.
Question super teams all you want. Knock on the Warriors for being too good and ruining the game of basketball. But face it: You want to see the best players and the best teams vie for the championship. The Warriors are the best team in the league. The Cavaliers are the defending champions with the world’s best player. And they’re going to meet in the Finals again and again and again. If you think that’s bad, then maybe it’s not the NBA that’s boring — it’s you.