It’s time to stop complaining about easy roads
Fans of the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers love to say that their rival has an easy path to the NBA Finals. It’s time to stop.
Here’s something that you might not like to hear: making it to the NBA Finals is hard. It doesn’t matter who or where or when, it is a difficult task. Seriously.
Not all runs are created equal. Sometimes you run into really tough times on your way to being four wins away from a championship. Sometimes you play teams that you match up with extremely well.
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Every team that makes it to the Finals has some type of luck. You can’t win a championship without it. At every step of the way, you need some kind of extra help in order to attain basketball immortality. Every champion ever has experienced it.
The Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers seem to be on a collision course. The two teams are expected to face off in the NBA Finals for the their straight time in a rubber match. The rivalry has gone beyond basketball and is starting to take weird turns.
Log onto Twitter at any given time and surely someone will be arguing about their rivals’ easy path to the Finals. Sometimes it’s a Warriors fan saying that LeBron James is lucky that the Eastern Conference is weak. Sometimes it’s a Cavaliers fan saying that the Warriors are lucky they aren’t facing healthy teams.
Pro tip: let it go. It’s just a waste of time and effort barking about easy paths. And this isn’t just for fans, media are taking part in this (*cough cough Nick Wright).
The Eastern Conference is the lesser conference. It is generally a foregone conclusion that LeBron James will be coming out of the East. That is a testament to his greatness because, even in a weak conference, that’s hard to do.
But, if we’re being honest, the East isn’t very good. And, like Draymond Green said, it seems that they’ve just given up. They’re no longer trying to compete with the Cavs.
Toronto mentally checked out of their series with Cleveland, after making the moves during the regular season that they thought would dethrone the King. The Boston Celtics refused to make a trade for Paul George or Jimmy Butler that would help them win now, instead opting to prepare for a post-LeBron NBA. The Indiana Pacers were just severely overmatched.
Now, on the other side, is the Golden State Warriors. They’ve made two straight runs to the NBA Finals and are in great position to make it three in a row. But the criticism that they’ve faced is that they haven’t faced healthy teams.
Yes, the Cavaliers having or not having Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love makes a difference. Yes, the San Antonio Spurs missing Kawhi Leonard makes a difference. Even Mike Conley makes some difference. But they do not guarantee victories.
The Warriors–at full strength–were better than the new-look Cleveland Cavaliers. David Blatt had no idea how to incorporate Love. Irving young and talented was flawed, spending 20 seconds pounding the air out of the ball. Those Warriors were better and those Cavaliers were worse than the 2016 that saw Cleveland eek out a Game 7 victory.
But that’s a discussion for another time. The point is that injuries happen. They suck. But not all injuries are created equal.
Leonard missing the Western Conference Finals is not the same as the 8 seed Portland Trabilazers missing their center. Many of the players that the Warriors “were lucky to avoid” really were not enough to move the needle. Role players not enough to stop the Warriors.
Golden State has been the best team over the last three years, They’ve won more games than anyone else over a three year stretch, set the record for most wins in a season, won a championship, and armed themselves with MVPs and All-Stars. It doesn’t matter who is in front of that team.
The Warriors and the Cavaliers will probably meet for a third time. And it is true that the Eastern Conference doesn’t have the talent that the West does. And it is true that the Warriors played some teams that were missing solid players.
We can debate about what is better: a healthy team that doesn’t fight like Toronto or a beat up one that doesn’t back down like the Utah Jazz. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter. Neither team could win.
But what are James and the Warriors supposed to do? Would everyone be happy if they lost these games they were supposed to win? They’re playing who is in front of them. It’s not James’ fault the East has not been able to build a worthy opponent. It’s not the Warriors’ fault that other team’s have poor training staffs and bad luck.
While they’ve both had things in their favor, they still have to play the games. Last year, Cleveland faced an injured Golden State team, but victory wasn’t guaranteed. They had to fight and battle to get the win.
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The Warriors and the Cavaliers have made it this year the last few years because they are executing. They have more talent than anyone else in the respective conferences. No one can match James while Steph Curry, Draymond Green, and Klay Thompson are showing greatness.
Stop complaining about easy paths. Both teams have good luck. They also possess some of the greatest talent ever that can’t be stopped by anyone except each other. Every championship team has good luck. It happens.
Let’s hope that good luck gives us the re-match we all want to see.