Golden State Warriors: This mistake ruined the three-peat

The Golden State Warriors had a chance to solidify themselves as the greatest dynasty in NBA history, but this one mistake ruined it all.

Three NBA championships in five consecutive trips to the NBA Finals. The most regular season wins ever in a four year stretch. A regular season record 73 wins in the 2016 season and a near perfect 2017 playoff run. The Golden State Warriors have made their case as an all-time great dynasty, but if it wasn’t for this one mistake, they could have added another championship to the list of accolades.

Winning three consecutive championships is nearly impossible. Countless teams have tried and most have failed. Only the Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers were ever able to accomplish this task.

Even with the odds against them, the Dubs seemed poised to win the chip. Once they signed DeMarcus Cousins in the off season, the Warriors became instant favorites to capture the title.

As we now know, Cousins was never the same player he once was. Throw in crucial injuries to Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Kevon Looney and we watched the Toronto Raptors hoist their first ever championship trophy into the sky.

How did we get here? Sure, injuries are fluke, but could they have been prevented.

Let’s look at the Raptors, for example. All season long, the Raptors paid extra close attention to the health of their players. The term “load management” became a key phrase as superstar Kawhi Leonard sat out of 23 games.

This extra rest proved to be useful. Kawhi himself credited load management for his success, saying he wouldn’t be playing at the level he is in the postseason had he not allowed his body to rest.

Now, let’s look back at the Warriors once again. The Dubs had plenty of talent on the top side of their roster, but not much depth on their bench. As a result, the star players received less rest than they probably should have.

Durant is perfect example of this. After his absence cost the Dubs to fall down 3-1 in the NBA Finals, he was forced back into the action to defend the Warriors in an elimination scenario. Of course, his leg didn’t even last a full half before it gave out and worsened his injury. The list continues, Looney re injured his chest in Game 5 while Klay suffered multiple minor injuries throughout the series.

Could this have been prevented? Well, let’s check out how many games each of these stars played. Durant and Klay appeared in 78 games, Stephen Curry in 69, Draymond Green in 66 and Looney in 80. Perhaps sitting through more games would have benefited them in the long run.

If the Dubs had done a better job of managing each stars load throughout the season, we might be looking at a very different championship celebration right now.