Since winning their first NBA Championship since 1975 by defeating LeBron’s Cleveland Cavaliers back during the short reign of head coach David Blatt, the Golden State Warriors, behind the always entertaining antics of Stephen Curry, have pretty much dominated professional basketball in North America.
The Warriors are the new kids on the block, although Golden State actually won the NBA title way back in 1975. The Cleveland Cavaliers have hung around to challenge the Warriors for every NBA Finals series since 2015, until now. For the first time in a long time, the Cavs did not even make it to the NBA playoffs and have been home watching the finals on TV, which must seem very strange to some team members.
The Warriors defeated the Cavaliers for the 2015 title then Tyronn Lue took over as head coach in Cleveland and the Cavs managed to beat the Warriors in an exciting 7 game series in 2016. 2017 and 2018 saw the same bill of fare at the finals with Golden State winning and maintaining the NBA title both years. A championship they are now bound to defend yet again.
Now, four years hardly constitutes a bona-fide dynasty, but it’s off to a very good start. The storied franchise of the Boston Celtics holds the mark for the most NBA titles at 17. More impressive yet is that the Celtics did it 8 times in a row from 1959 until 1966. We will see how the Warriors stack up to that record.
The Lakers of Los Angeles have contested the title more than any other team since the Finals were began BACK in 1947 with 31 appearances, the most recent of which came from 2008-2010 under head coach Phil Jackson. Oddly enough, the Golden State Warriors have never faced their in-state rival Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals.
Now the Warriors have punched their ticket to the final round of the 2019 NBA Finals while the Lakers, the Celtics and the Cavaliers are long gone. Golden State staged another of its famous second half comebacks to eliminate the Portland Trail Blazers, and the younger Curry brother, from competition.
The Warriors are a little banged up having lost both super-star Kevin Durant and his buddy Andre Iguodala to calf injuries. Even so, they are a formidable basketball team displaying both speed and agility as well as an exceptional basketball I.Q. every time they take the court.
The remaining core of the Warrior team consists of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green to whom double and even triple doubles are becoming commonplace. The pinpoint shooting accuracy and smothering defense of Golden State put away an excellent Portland team lead by Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum in four straight matches.
So now the Warriors are resting up and awaiting the winners of the Milwaukee Bucks and Toronto Raptor series. While Las Vegas oddsmakers are listing the Raptors at +1000 and the Bucks at Even money, wagering on Golden State requires that the bettor must risk $450 to win $100. So, odds are, the Warrior dynasty is likely to continue for another year at least.
