Warriors: Is their historic run just based on luck?
By Calvin Fong
Durant Replaced the Need for Luck
Most around the league believed the Warriors were unfair in acquiring KD in 2016, and criticism rained down from the rafters. It was merely an unnecessary accumulation of wealth, they said. An excessive overabundance of talent.
The Warriors, however, thought a little differently. They knew that if they were to reach new heights and compete for championships year after year, they’d have to find a way to get around the inevitable injury bug that had stung so many good teams in years past.
When they added a 2nd league MVP and a former scoring champ to their team, it, no doubt, made owners Joe Lacob and Peter Guber sleep a little better at night, knowing that if any star on their team were to go down, another would pick up the slack.
Their thought experiment worked.
When Durant had a prolonged injury in the 2018 regular season, the Warriors continued to push on and kept winning, with Curry leading the way. Likewise, when Steph was out for six weeks at the end of the regular season and for a portion of the playoffs, Durant took over and willed them to wins.
Then, in the hotly contested Western Conference Finals, the Rockets were without Chris Paul for those crucial Games 6 and 7. Chris Paul was acquired by Houston to be the second All-Star to keep their offense humming and take the pressure off James Harden.
But when Paul went down, the Houston offense slowed and sputtered and stalled. It was nowhere near the formidable beast it once was.
And the Warriors, even without their defensive stalwart Andre Iguodala, took down what was left of the Rockets in Games 6 and 7 to claim the series.
The Warriors were built for this. Other teams weren’t.
It’s the reason why Warriors fans can’t take those “luck” arguments too seriously. Yes, the critics have a point.
But injuries are part of the game. Every single team deals with it in April, May and June when the postseason drones on after an already-too-long regular season.
The big difference is that the Warriors have a contingency plan in place if, and when, injuries strike.
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Their contingency plan just puts the ball in the basket a little better than others.