The Warriors Dynasty's Final Stand
Originally Published on Florida Sports Report
The 2018-2019 Golden State Warriors has a lot of shades of the infamous 1997-1998 Chicago Bulls, and it’s going to need to dig deep in order to receive the same ending. The Warriors have been punched in the gut emotionally by watching Oracle Center become a near-funeral of their season, their legacy, and their reign as the best team in the NBA for the past couple years. The Raptors went into California and took advantage of Golden State’s limited lineup in Game 3 and the fatigue of Steph Curry in Game 4 by running circles around them and bullying them in the post. As a result we have one of the strongest defenses in recent NBA Finals memory knocking around a team that is clearly showing wear and tear in the midst of knowing that their days together are numbered. This is the current Warriors dynasty’s final stand heading into what might be the last game of the 2018-2019 regular season. They are about to head into a frenzied Toronto down three games to one.
Before we discuss the present, let’s look into the past. The Chicago Bulls of 1998 were not the last team to win three championships in a row, but the reason why this particular three-peat stands out and imitates the current quest of the Warriors was because just like what’s happening now and unlike how events transpired with the Lakers (whose issues didn’t hit nuclear until a few years later), the Bulls knew they were going to go their separate ways immediately after the season was done. Scottie Pippen’s days were numbered, Jordan was ready to retire or at the very least leave Chicago, Phil Jackson was sick of the organization, and of course Dennis Rodman’s antics continued to frustrate a team clearly getting sick of each other.
Scottie Pippen’s injuries lasted the entire season, as he was out the first half due to back problems. The Utah Jazz, fresh off their Finals loss to Chicago, beats them on both games in the regular season. Behinds-the-scenes chaos plagued the Bulls. Even though they closed out extremely strong, the Bulls for the first time didn’t own the best record in the NBA, having to instead share it with the Jazz and even lose the tiebreaker. The end was near, so the goal was to win it all one final time, by any means necessary before the inevitable breakups.
What feels like ions ago, the Warriors this season actually started out incredibly strong with a dominant 11-2 record. Then Steph Curry, heart and soul of the franchise, goes down to injury. Then Draymond and Durant got into a spat that turned personal after a close loss against the Clippers (which…will be relevant later), and set fire to an already hostile talking point concerning Durant’s free agency. The Warriors were on pace to win 65 with their torrid start, but things were never the same after Draymond’s suspension from the team. With Curry’s injury, and Durant having to play alongside a teammate that not only dared you to leave, but also in a subtle manner reminded you that your presence isn’t as appreciated as you’d like, the Warriors would unconvincingly and through a roller coaster ride of a regular season take the top seed in the West.
On the other side, the incredible and hungry Raptors and their Canadian fanbase would beat the Warriors in the regular season both times, expanding the size of the target on their backs once it seemed like there was blood on the water, and before you know it the seemingly invincible were looking like the shield was cracking. The Raptors were the Jazz, a team without a championship, playing for a city that has seen the playoff runs cutting short year in and year out. Except this time, the Raptors are 48 minutes away from ending their elongated drought and eliminating the demons of Vince Carter’s miss and eventual departure as well as their constant defeat at the hands of LeBron.
The road to the NBA Finals is always a rough one, especially in the Western Conference. The Warriors’ biggest rival was once again in the way, and the average record of a West Playoff team was 51-31, seven games better than the Eastern Conference (the West during the Warriors’ 5-year Finals run is on average 5 wins stronger than the East). The Warriors used to be the media darlings, but after Durant, the tide started turning and soon everybody became Clippers fans, Rockets fans, and Blazers fans. They had been accused of breaking the NBA by stacking up so many all-stars and making their existence entirely unfair. Soon it was the Basketball World vs. the Warriors, and under constant media scrutiny, under such pressure, Golden State was finally starting to fall apart.
The Oracle used to be a guaranteed loss for the road team. The Warriors however lost by 20+ points in Oakland multiple times. The Warriors outside of Steph Curry used to outlast you in the regular season with a good injury history, as we saw playoff opponents lose their best players when facing Golden State (Rockets, Cavaliers, Blazers, even the Pelicans). This season however the extra plethora of games because of playoff activity is starting to catch up as we saw the three best players lose time to injury.
The Warriors used to be the team that would demoralize you with their relentlessness. But this season, Kevin Durant, their best player, was struggling against the media and even his own teammates, and would lose concentration at times with the Clippers series being the defining example. Durant has the talent of a sure-fire Hall of Famer, but this season more than any other shows he lacks that killer instinct that you see in LeBron, Kobe, and Jordan. And this is the biggest difference between the dynasty of Golden State and the dynasty of the Bulls: that one player to rely on to take you home when things become dire.
Every dynasty has their go-to clutch player. The LeBron Eastern Conference Dynasty (spanning two teams and a still-impressive and still-underrated eight straight Finals appearances) had…LeBron James himself as their clutch, their main man, and the one to take over; with Ray Allen, Dwayne Wade, and Kyrie Irving as good backup options. LeBron James notoriously ended the Larry Brown Pistons Era and ended the Big 3 Celtics. The Lakers’ dynasty had Kobe Bryant as the man who would always try the last shot and he’ll probably kill you if you don’t ensure he has the ball in the final seconds.
Of course, the Bulls had Michael Jordan, who back in 1998 had to carry an angry, bitter, broken, and injured team through the playoffs, past the Pacers, and finally against an excellent Jazz team. Everyone remembers his shot to seal the Finals, but not as many remember his 45 points, nor do they remember the fact that if they lost Game 6, the Jazz was definitely going to win the seventh and deciding game.
But what about the Warriors now? Who is their man now that the team is in shambles phsically and emotionally? Who is now their go-to?
Kevin Durant is injured and unavailable. Steph Curry is running on fumes and doesn’t have the size advantage to take on the entire Raptors team on his own. Klay Thompson is a scoring specialist but is hardly considered a man to take over an entire game. Everyone else is whether banged up or not skilled enough to carry the Warriors for the final push. For all we know, this is it, we have reached the end. Steve Kerr’s gambles and offense schemes have stopped paying off, the Warriors never appear in control, Kawhi Leonard is at full strength thanks to the load management idea from the Raptors organization, and it looks like the end of an era of Western Conference and Finals dominance is coming to a close.
The only way the 2019 Warriors can complete the emulation of the 1998 Bulls is by winning three in a row, two of them in Jurassic Park and sandwiched in between winning their official final game in Oracle before moving to San Francisco and starting a new era of basketball. And the only way to win the three in a row is with whether the entire team stepping up, or a LeBron James or a Michael Jordan emerging from the starting lineup and ripping out his jersey, revealing a Superman logo underneath. But it doesn’t look good.
Nonetheless, five straight Finals while battling the West, including Peak Rockets, Peak Spurs (with Kawhi Leonard), and the Peak Thunder (before they nabbed their best player), remains extremely impressive. The Splash Brothers altered the NBA, Steve Kerr and the Warriors coaching staff revolutionized offense in the NBA, they were a crotch kick away from four straight championships (I’ll stand by that statement forever), and it took one of the three best players in the entire world backed by one of the deepest staffs in recent memory to finally be the one to slay them and end them once and for all.
Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Kevin Durant will still be success stories for years to come barring injury regardless of where they decide to go, but this era is about finished. And it might end in a whimper like when the Shaq/Kobe Lakers got crushed by the Pistons in 2004, or it might end in exhausted triumph like the 98 Bulls surviving in Salt Lake City. Whatever the result, the ride and legacy remains undeniable, remains a staple in the history of basketball, and will ensure the legacies of the main players forever and always.
The 2019 NBA Finals will be the legendary Splash Brothers Era’s last stand before an unpredictable future. And we shall see just how much more everyone has left in the tank,