By Jay Alan
This NBA postseason has been unlike any other I have experienced in my 34 years. Not just because the Cavs dominated the number one seed Celtics, but they dominated in a historic manner. A 50 point lead at half time in the Eastern Conference finals is bad enough, but now the defending champion Cavs are on the verge of being swept by a Warriors team that is 15-0 so far in the playoffs this year.
Parody has been an issue in the NBA for quite a few years. The West has been seen as quite a bit better than the East, really since the Michael Jordan Bulls run came to an end. Now I am not going to get into the ridiculous game of comparing teams from different eras like the mainstream sports media loves to do, but history is important to keep in mind.
Lets take a look at a list of NBA Champions since the Bulls run of six championships in 1998…
1999-Spurs (West)
2000-Lakers (West)
2001-Lakers (West)
2002-Lakers (West)
2003-Spurs (West)
2004-Pistons (East)
2005-Spurs (West)
2006-Heat (East)
2007-Spurs (West)
2008-Celtics (East)
2009- Lakers (West)
2010-Lakers (West)
2011-Mavs (West)
2012-Heat (East)
2013-Heat (East)
2014-Spurs (West)
2015-Warriors (West)
2016-Cavs (East)
2017-Warriors lead 3-0 (West)
Lets be honest, without LeBron James’ Miami teams, the East may have 3 of the last 12. LeBron James has been in the last seven finals representing the East, with the Cavs and Warriors playing in the last three.
This is the first time two teams are meeting three years in a row, and normally this wouldn’t be a bad thing with no team winning in consecutive years, but the Warriors addition of Kevin Durant changes things.
The Cavs and Warriors was a fairly evenly matched contest the first two years. The Warriors won in 2015 with the Cavs missing Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving, and the Cavs won in 2016 coming back from a 3-1 deficit, the first team to ever do so.
Enter Kevin Durant…
The 2014 NBA Most Valuable Player (Giving the Warriors the last 3 between Durant and Steph Curry) in the middle of his prime gets added to a team that won a record 73 games in 2016.
In 2011 commissioner David Stern blocked a three team trade that would have sent Chris Paul from the then New Orleans Hornets to the Los Angeles Lakers. Granted the league had control of the Hornets at that time, so Stern used that as the reason as to why he blocked the trade, but in the interest of parody, the commissioner could have done something…anything to stop Durant from joining the Warriors. Durant was a free agent, not getting traded, but I can’t see any of the leagues other owners objecting to something being done.
So where does all of this leave us now? The Warriors will likely sweep through the playoffs being the first team to go 16-0, and will in all likelihood dominate the NBA for the foreseeable future. We could see the Warriors in six or seven consecutive finals, potentially winning the next three or four easily. The Warriors are making the team that dominated the East look like a D-League team.
The only way I see the Warriors being stopped is by the Cavs doing something drastic. I am a Cleveland fan so obviously I want to see the Cavs do well, but they are already paying more luxury tax than anyone ever, so what can they really do?
Dan Gilbert has some very tough questions to ask himself this offseason. He can’t continue to pay all this luxury tax on a team that got swept out of the playoffs, so he can either break up the team, or get better. Much better.
LeBron gave Cleveland a second chance, so lets hope Gilbert doesn’t decide to break up this team and rebuild. He will have to make some tough roster decisions, like possibly parting with Love or maybe even Irving, but for all of Cleveland’s sake he cant give up. Dan Gilbert isn’t a quitter, and Cleveland doesn’t quit, so I think this will be an exciting offseason.
Having two teams dominate isn’t great, but it is better then just having one team run all over the rest of the league.
Check out more posts from Jay Alan at JayAlan.Wordpress.com.
Onlookers and faithful fans enjoyed a delicious meal, raffles and a walk down memory lane with Swindell who spoke of his journey to where he is today and what his plans and expectations would be for the Captains organization.
