The Golden State Warriors won their third consecutive NBA title on Friday night by sweeping the Cleveland Cavaliers. It was Golden State’s fourth Larry O’Brien Trophy in the last five seasons, making them the latest NBA dynasty. While teams believed they could find a way to take the Warriors down a couple of years ago, once Kevin Durant made the decision to join Curry, Thompson and Green, the league has become lob sided.
When LeBron James left a weak Cavaliers team to join championship-caliber Miami Heat back in 2010, people were burning his jersey on the streets of Cleveland. NBA fans don’t take lightly to superstars joining other superstars because it destroys the NBA equilibrium. As Yahoo so succinctly put it:
“A backlash generally follows sustained success, and Golden State was accumulating haters before Durant added another layer of resentment.”
At first, Durant was having a hard time accepting the role of a villain. After all, he has been a good guy his entire life. However, after a while he realised that public opinion doesn’t matter. What matters is family, and when it comes to basketball, your teammates are your family. As long as they care, respect, love and share, nobody else’s opinion is valid.
“Basketball, to me, isn’t about everybody revolving around what I do and how I feel. That’s never how I wanted to play and that’s never how I wanted to approach a team,”
“So to be one of the guys, that’s what I always wanted. That’s how I was brought up as a basketball player, as being one of the guys. I think it’s more special when you do it with people who support you and love you, care about what you do as a ball player. It’s not always just about you. And that’s the reason why I came here — an unselfish environment where they just care about the game. All that other stuff doesn’t matter.”
The Golden State Warriors organisation allowed Kevin to be who he is. It didn’t force him to be the star that he never wanted to be. Instead, it put him in a position where he doesn’t play for himself, but plays for his friends. In his mind, he’s winning by doing things his way, which is what makes the two championships since coming over to California so sweet.
“I feel like it’s easy to be the best player when you don’t have good players around you. I feel like it’s harder to stand out when you have great players around you,”
“I pride myself on standing out wherever I am. I pride myself on working hard wherever I go. And I feel like these guys embraced me and I feel like I’m a Warrior.”
Parity is important in sports. Not knowing who’s going to win is what makes a game fun to watch. The Warriors have been blamed for taking that away by becoming too good for everyone else. Kevin Durant, in particular, has been the target of haters the most, because he is the one who has made them invincible. This is what he had to say about it:
“My responsibility is to my skills. My responsibility is to myself,”
“I’m not worried about the NBA. That’s their job. They make too much money. They ain’t paying me enough to dictate the NBA. I should be making more money if all that’s on me. My responsibility is to whatever team I play for. All that other stuff, that’s on y’all.”
So, obviously, he doesn’t care. Neither should you. Houston actually matched Golden State this season, therefore they’re not as unbeatable as they seem to be. Instead of complaining that the NBA has become uninteresting, fans should be glad that they’re witnessing such an awe-inspiring unit take the court during their lifetimes.
Go ahead Kevin. Enjoy your second NBA/MVP trophy alongside your friends.
