I know it’s happened and this is probably the least interesting post ever but when I reflect on recent NBA history, it is still shocking to me what happened that year. I never thought it would be remotely possible. It was just a record that could never be touched.

And yet it really happened. I don’t think it gets enough credit because of the “it don’t mean a thing without the ring” piece but as time passes, I gotta say it’s just a standalone incredible achievement.

The fact that the last 30 games of the season they were the target for every team, no one wanted to see them do it, and they still did it. It’s incredibly impressive.

  • HEEMZAGINBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    and (some) people really try to spin in like the Warriors were not the favorites heading into 2017 if they didn’t land KD.

    They would have been massive favorites. They were already way better than the Cavs, I say this as a cavs fan. We needed LeBron and Kyrie to play the best basketball of their careers and Steph/Klay to underperform while also getting 1 win with Draymond suspended.

    They had won 140 games in 2 seasons, and were 1 game away from having the most dominant 2 year stretch in NBA history, arguably NA professional sports history.

    • Naive_IllustratorBEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      A KD-less warriors 2017 & 2018 team is definitely better than their 2015 & 2016 version. They certainly would still be the favorites even without KD.

      But the league was already on it’s way to figuring them out. The only reason why the Cavs struggled mightily to beat them was because of Kevin Love, who could no longer defend and ate up a giant chunk of their cap.

      The Rockets and Bucks were two teams constructed with multiple rangy switching defenders specifically to neutralize the chaos of Steph zipping around the court. It’s like the warriors were 50% favorites to 30% favorites. Still the best odds but not overwhelming anymore.

      The game is just moving really fast now. Because of shortened contracts, high influx of rookie talent and the fast pace shortening careers, rosters are turning over rapidly, and in ways that are able to adapt to the best teams. This is why even though the Warriors revolutionized the game, they could only hold on to their advantage for so long.