Northern California has been experiencing a drought for several years now, so a little real precipitation would be welcome by the celebrants in Oakland this morning. That would be the icing on the cake. But, good news, we might be having an El Niño winter, so hopefully that drought will become history like the basketball drought that ended on June 16, 2015 when the Golden State Warriors knocked down the Cleveland Cavaliers in an exciting NBA Finals jousting match that went to game six.
Props to the Cavaliers for being a tough and resilient competitor, the Warriors certainly had to work for their title. However, there are a few naysayers out in cyber world that are diminishing the Warriors’ victory. Really….what’s with these folks that can’t just say, “Congratulations!”. Come on. The Warriors have played great – and I mean great – record-breaking basketball all year. Steph broke a couple records, Klay had that super-sized quarter where he scored 37 points – 37 frickin’ points – in a 12 minute span. It takes me about 12 years to hit that many baskets. They have had a great season. Listening to these sourpusses, you’d think the Warriors stole the title from an eighth grade girls CYO team; now if they played my daughter’s 6th grade CYO Blazers, they’d have some work to do.
Anyway, you gonna tell Conley and the Grizzlies they didn’t play their hearts out. They did, I saw those games. Oh, and Harden. He just tiptoed through the tulips, huh; he wasn’t being serious. Yeah, right, he was one fierce contender, he wasn’t MVP runner up for nothing. The playoffs were brutal. Each of those teams played hard to stop the Warriors. The Finals were just plain painful.
Not only did the Warriors have to stop LeBron James, the greatest player in the known and inhabitable world, but they had to contend with a group of hungry players that wanted the title just as much as they did. Cleveland’s drought has been longer, and they were really thirsty. Yeah, Love was out, and Kyrie got sidelined in Game 1, I was bummed because he is a great player to watch. But, other players stepped in and made the Warriors work for that title. It was no picnic, it was physical, ugly and draining. You’ve got to give the Cav’s credit for finding the Warriors’ Achilles heel by neutralizing Curry and Thompson. After Game 3, I was worried. Will the Warriors get their groove back? Will Achilles fall? Nope, because the Warriors aren’t just Curry and Thompson, they are also Livingston, Igoudala, Lee, Bogut, the Brazilian Blur – Barbosa, Hannah’s Harrison, Draymond Green, Ezeli, Holiday, Kuzmic, McAdoo, Rush and Mo Speights, all thirsty guys too, with a coaching staff led by Steve Kerr. They were able to adjust to the brilliant coaching of David Blatt, wear down the greatest player in the known and inhabitable world, and win the series.
Don’t rain on our parade. They do deserve it, not just a happenstance win, or a lucky season, but a crown to an awesome and record breaking year. Is this the beginning of a dynasty? Who knows? Let’s enjoy today. Omar Khayyam wrote, “Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life.” Let’s enjoy this wonderful moment and leave tomorrow’s moments for another time. Congratulations!!
FROM THE SHOE 