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Inspired by Apricot's outstanding hoops history in Do the Warriors deserve this championship?, here's a list of some thoughts on luck and winning the 2015 NBA Championship.
So point blank: Were the Golden State Warriors lucky to win the 2015 NBA Championship?
OF COURSE NOT.
Luck is...
- Winning the NBA Lottery 3 times and back-to-back in 2013 and 2014.
- Completely tanking the 2003 NBA season (making a Ricky Davis triple-double mockery of it in fact) and winding up with can't miss/ once in a generation/ Magic + Michael local prospect in LeBron James.
- Having the NBA's greatest individual player right now (yes it's LeBron) have the uncanny ability to go 1 on 5 and easily win the Leastern Conference 4 times.
- LeBron not having an NBA team closer to his hometown Akron and having to settle playing for a city he grew up hating when he shocked the world and left Miami.
- LeBron having a short term memory for comic sans and crazy losers burning his jersey.
- Getting endless fake sympathy and hype from the ESPN's of the world just because you have a "woe is me" attitude as a sports city. (I've been a Warriors fan during many, many losses. There was nothing but appreciation here for even the slightest win- something like "Jason Kidd didn't say he wouldn't come here as a free agent!" was a win. Dub Nation has never, ever had silly entitlement to winning just because it felt like 23,753 years since the Warriors last playoff appearance during most of the 90's and 00's. Can't say the same about Cleveland. Memo to Cleveland: You've had LeBron James on your team once and he was nice enough to come back- why do you feel sorry for yourselves? Enjoy it. He's the greatest player on the planet.)
Luck is NOT...
- Winning 67 games.
- Winning MVP.
- Coming back down 2-1 and winning 3 in a row against a very, very good Memphis Grizzlies team. (By the way this 55 win Grizzlies team would have had the 2nd seed in the East and home court advantage against the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Grizzlies honestly matchup against the Cavs in slowdown, grind-it-out, physical ball much better than the Warriors. Grizzlies in 5 easily even if Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love- two guys who had never even been to the playoffs before- are playing.)
- Coming back down 2-1, winning 3 in a row, and 2 on the road against the self-proclaimed (and legitimate) best player in the world.
- Having a $15M former All-Star power forward and $13M All-NBA center not care about stats or minutes and do whatever it takes for the team to win.
Ring Don't Lie. Best team in the world > best player in the world.
As a basketball fan you have to have the utmost respect for LeBron James and how hard the Cavaliers played in the 2015 NBA Finals. Unfortunately, they weren't one of the league's top 2 teams. The only reason the Cavaliers were even in the 2015 NBA Finals is the Eastern Conference is required to have a representative. Now that my friends is luck.