Sometimes it's more than a game

I’ve never really been a big fan of professional basketball. I’ve watched it off and on throughout my life but not regularly and certainly not to the point of having a favorite team. The game tends to be dominated by size rather than skill and the officials let the players get away with too many rules violations. For example, a player used to be called for traveling if he took more than one and a half steps without dribbling the ball; today it’s up to four steps or more, even though the rule hasn’t changed. The game so often looks like the street ball many of these athletes played before they became stars where you grab the rebound, dribble it down court and shoot it and then do the same thing again.

But there’s a difference this year to the status quo of the past and that difference is the Golden State Warriors. They have a couple of great players on their team by the names of Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant but these two are not the “look at me, I’m the best” all-stars we’ve seen so often in the past. These guys play as well and sometimes better off the ball as with it and both their contributions to team play and team wins is something special.

They’re in the Championship finals this week against the same team they played and lost to last year, the Cleveland Cavaliers, starring LeBron James. Last year Golden State jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the series and most people thought it was a done deal because of their dominant play during the regular season.

It turned out not to be a done deal at all. Cleveland fought and clawed their way back into contention, eventually winning the last three games in a row and taking the trophy home to Cleveland. The Warriors were devastated by the loss and decided to do something about it. So they went to a team I feel a closeness to more than any other although it would be a stretch calling it my favorite team, the Oklahoma City Thunder, and convinced their best player to leave the Thunder and sign with the Warriors. That player was Kevin Durant and he gave the Warriors exactly what they needed. He is a force to be reckoned with, one of the top talents in the league but, as mentioned above, a great team player too which fits into the overall scheme of how Golden State wins basketball games. So I figured him to be the X-factor for Golden State this entire year, including the playoffs and that’s what he has been.

The series this year opened in California with the Warriors easily taking a couple of double-digit wins from the Cav’s in ways that almost made it look too easy. Then the series moved to Cleveland and amazingly, the bookmakers installed Cleveland as a 2 point favorite because they were playing at home. In just a few hours, that number moved from Cleveland being a 2 point favorite to the Clippers being made a 3½ point favorite and that was the line at tip-off. Golden State led early by several, fell behind late to trail by 6 with a little over three minutes to play, and then miraculously scored the last 11 points of the game in front of a hostile road crowd to win the game by five.

Tonight’s game is game four, also to be played in Cleveland, and the chance for Golden State to close out an incredible run which has not seen them lose in the playoffs. The line favors the Warriors by six and many people think that’s too much playing away from home. I would agree with those people almost all the time with other teams and circumstances but can’t agree with them about this particular team because I’m not sure there’s ever been another one like it. I see Golden State getting revenge for their devastating series loss last year and taking the trophy back to California.

Golden State beats the spread tonight and wins by more than 6 in a game that is played so majestically by this group of guys that it almost rekindles my desire to be an NBA fan.

Almost.