The Warriors won the NBA’s Western Conference. They are Western Conference champions. There is no team better in the West.
What’s more, they went 12 and gosh darn zero en route to that prestigious title.
I will wait for your thunderous applause, wild cheers, whoops and hollers.
(Crickets).
(Crickets).
(Crickets).
What in the name of Troy Murphy is going on here?
My goodness, how times have changed. Once a concept as unthinkable as four All-Stars on one Golden State Warriors roster, the idea of the Dubs as three-time Western Conference champions has become, well, routine.
Just two years ago, when the Warriors clinched their first NBA finals berth since 1975, the reaction was orgasmic. It seemed a holy miracle.
Last year, when the Warriors clinched their second consecutive berth, on the heels of a 73-win season and a roaring comeback in the Western Conference finals, the reaction was roars of validation, the shouts of a quest fulfilled.
This year, when the Warriors dusted the Kawhi Leonard-less Spurs in four games, the game felt like a mid-week win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Dubs themselves celebrated in such muted style, you wondered if they realized their accomplishment.
Except, that’s precisely what they realized: their accomplishment is not the accomplishment that will fill their souls.
Heck, when the Giants win a wild-card game, they pour champagne like they’re at DiCaprio party in “Wolf of Wall Street.” The Warriors? They might have enjoyed a bottled water en route to the flight home last night.
Even with the glitzy addition of Kevin Durant, this is the year of the grizzled, scarred Warriors. This is the year they cannot enjoy a full night’s sleep until they fulfill their only quest: To reclaim the NBA championship they felt was rightfully theirs last year, until they saw it slip away in a freakish storm of suspensions, injuries and LeBron James chase-down blocks.
Oh, and a freakish storm of Steph Curry’s inability to be his best when it mattered most.
You don’t think the two-time MVP, as gracious and humble as he is in press gatherings, doesn’t burn with the thoughts of avenging that slip up?
Trot out any revenge narrative you like: Charles Bronson in ‘Death Wish’. Clint Eastwood in ‘Unforgiven’. Russell Crowe in ‘Gladiator’.
And man, what any of those protagonists would have done to have Kevin Durant ride side saddle in their revenge stories.
The Warriors are unbothered by the national whine that Durant-as-a-Warrior has ruined the NBA. The Warriors are interested in all-consuming excellence, again and again. Isn’t that the American Way? To win, then win again?
Now, LeBron James (presumably) awaits. So does Kyrie (Don’t You Forget About Me) Irving. The Cavaliers are the NBA champions, and the Warriors won’t celebrate until they are dethroned.
You want celebration? You’ll have to wait four more wins.
