I feel like we are failing as sports fans. As the NBA Finals approach, we should be doing much more than simply embracing the inevitable Golden State-Cleveland matchup. We should relish this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that two great teams are providing us.
With Golden State's one-sided elimination of Utah on Monday night, both teams have ripped through the first two rounds with 8-0 records. The Cavs were tested throughout the opening series, never beating Indiana by more than six points. But in the second round, Cleveland was just as destructive of Toronto as the Warriors were of the Jazz, winning by an average of 15 points per game.
And so their great players do what the NBA does so well -- they rest for a week -- while the Celtics, Wizards, Spurs and Rockets decide who will be their fodder for the conference finals. And that's all good.
Cleveland-Golden State Round III is not something to fear. This isn't The Godfather III or Jaws 3-D. This will not be a cheap imitation of what has come before. You've got the champion Cavaliers and LeBron James more committed than ever against a Warriors team that, yes, was unfairly improved by the addition of Kevin Durant. But without question the series will contain moments of ridiculously good basketball.
So much of the narrative has been that these are the NBA's only great teams, and it's not an unreasonable argument. Still, I don't remember anyone complaining about Celtics-Lakers when Magic and Larry went at it three times in four years in the '80s.
They never played three consecutive like the Warriors and Cavs are about to. In fact, the Celtics and Lakers never even did that in the '60s when the NBA was a nine-team league and Boston went to the Finals every year but one.
This is new for the NBA. It has never happened in a Super Bowl. The last time the World Series featured the same opponents three years in a row was nearly a century ago. The New York Giants and Yankees met from 1921-23. Even played all the games in the Polo Grounds in those first two.
If the NBA has become an eight-month exercise to get us to Cavs-Warriors, that's more on the other teams to pick up their games, to build better teams. Yes, Cleveland had the good fortune of owning the No. 1 pick when both Kyrie Irving and James came into the league (and then getting him back from Miami).
But Golden State put together the core of its team that won a league-record 73 games a year ago without any extraordinary help. Only Steph Curry (seventh pick in '09) was top 10. Klay Thompson went 11th in 2011 after players like Jan Vesely and Jimmer Fredette had been taken off the board.
And then in 2012, the Warriors landed Draymond Green in the 35th spot -- after the Mavericks already had made three selections (Jared Cunningham, Bernard James and Jae Crowder).
Yeah. That happened.
So if you're mad at the Warriors and Cavs for repeatedly showing up on your TV in June, I think your anger is misdirected.
I have already said I don't think this Golden State team will play a Game 6 at any point this spring. That includes the Finals, and that's not a knock on Cleveland. As long as Durant's as healthy as he is now, there's really no way to play with this team for 48 minutes.
But LeBron James probably has other ideas, and he certainly proved folks wrong a year ago. That's why the conclusion of this trilogy just might be the best part yet.
Maybe the Rockets and Wizards will surprise us and win a game in the next round. Don't expect more than that. There's greatness in play here and something big at stake, and we should stand back and applaud Golden State and Cleveland for making it happen.
Sports on 05/10/2017