Confession time: as much as Steph Curry is my current favorite player in the NBA and as much as I cheer for the Golden State Warriors because I appreciated how they assembled their team, a small part of me had a Skip Bayless moment and hoped that they wouldn't win the title for selfish reasons. It honestly wouldn't have been as interesting from a writer's perspective if all of the historic accomplishments that happened this year culminated in a second-straight championship. When they struggled mightily and historically overcame the 3-1 deficit against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Finals, I was sure that they had momentum on their side. When they went up 3-1 on the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Finals, I felt like my actual prediction was going to come true. However, when Draymond Green got tossed for a game and Klay Thompson had his tricky "feelings" comments about LeBron James, I knew that King James and the Cavs were coming with the guillotine much like the Warriors came for Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook when they clowned Steph Curry's defense. When the Cavs forced a Game 7, I didn't have a good feeling about the Warriors' chances, felt like Cleveland stole the momentum and, unfortunately, that bad feeling came true. One of my good Facebook friends and fellow sports enthusiasts took me to task for saying that breaking the Bulls' 20-year record for regular season wins means nothing if they don't win the championship. While I understand the historical gravity of their season, I stand by my assertion: the Golden State Warriors' 2015-16 season is a failure. In explaining my adamant position, allow me to summarily dismiss any potential excuses...
There's nothing like being on the right side of history, but until the Cleveland Cavaliers won the first championship of their 46-year existence, the team was an extension of a city that had grown accustomed to being on the wrong side of history. Even though they rolled through the Eastern Conference on their way to their second consecutive NBA Finals appearance against the defending-champion Golden State Warriors, many pundits still gave them little to no shot against the team that set the new record for regular season wins at 73 led by the league's first unanimous MVP in Stephen Curry. Meanwhile, LeBron James made history by being the first player in NBA history (along with teammate James Jones, who was with him all four years in Miami) to make six consecutive Finals appearances. However, when they lost Game 4 at home of all places, LeBron and the Cavs faced an uphill battle that no other team in NBA Finals history had ever been able to overcome: come back from a 3-1 deficit to win the series. However, with a tenacity like perhaps no other player before him, King James willed himself and his teammates with a "why not us" mentality and rallied to accomplish what seemed impossible against arguably the best team in basketball. The Warriors' historic season quickly paled in comparison as the Cavs made team history, NBA Finals history and, most important, Cleveland history as the region's "Prodigal Son" finally brought one home for "the 'Land". So let's explore parts of the path to LeBron's ultimate victory...
So it's been a while since the last post of this mildly comical series and you're probably thinking, "After this lengthy hiatus, why did Dirk decide to lead off his post with a picture of After 7?" Some of y'all might even be like, "Who the heck is After 7 anyway?!?!" Elementary, my dear Not-sons: I uttered the words "after 7" in reference to rush hour being over and traffic dying down and voila...my second favorite song from the R&B trio, "Ready or Not," enters my brain space! ("Can't Stop" is my favorite. I know y'all wanted to know that and even if you didn't, now you do.) Later that evening, I happened to be talking about music from that same period with one of my dear, dear friends and what song got mentioned? That's right...After 7..."Ready or Not". Gotta love when randomness abounds and since the song probably won't be stuck in my head enough to make July's "'Get Out of My Brain!' Countdown of the Month", I thought I'd show love to Babyface's actual brothers and L.A. Reid's cousin for marketing purposes only. (How about that last little fun fact.) Now that I've unexpectedly taken you back to 1989 and made you want to crate dig for some more slow jams, it's time for the zaniest of the zany. (QUICK NOTE: the word "zany" doesn't get enough play, so I decided to show it some love today. See...even my vocab is random.) Let's get on with it, fellow randomites...
