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Why the Warriors are not as great as the Bulls in the 90s, was a stupid comparison to begin with by the media.

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Agreed.

...why the Warriors are not light-years ahead of everyone else.

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Regular season is meaningless. The team with the most wins in the NBA, NFL,and MLB have all failed to win the championship.

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Yup

I'm not trying to be Captain Obvious here, but home court advantage does make a difference. Meaningless is a little strong. I do, however, think GS put too much effort into chasing a record at the expense of a title. And yes, the winner of the regular season is not always the winner of the playoffs.

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Why the Warriors are not as great as the Bulls in the 90s, was a stupid comparison to begin with by the media.

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The regular season record that they chased and broke was the Bull's record, so obviously they were going to be compared to that Bulls team (in one way or the other) by the media. And the Warriors had won the NBA title the year before and were now trying to repeat, so it isn't like they were some surprise team with no credentials coming out of no where. Didn't seem stupid to me at all. Seemed pretty normal and expected.

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I'm not trying to be Captain Obvious here, but home court advantage does make a difference. Meaningless is a little strong. I do, however, think GS put too much effort into chasing a record at the expense of a title. And yes, the winner of the regular season is not always the winner of the playoffs.

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I don't get the argument that they were strictly chasing the record. If you're in a position to break the record, you absolutely want to break it. Especially when its driving momentum. They were young enough and talented enough to keep pace in the grueling playoffs.

All of that was erased once the playoffs started. Once they were up 3-1 in the series. The two things are mutually exclusive at that point.

This is sports, and LeBron was just being LeBron.

Maybe Curry can get on a new team the Globetrotters, he'd fit right in.

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I don't get the argument that they were strictly chasing the record. If you're in a position to break the record, you absolutely want to break it. Especially when its driving momentum. They were young enough and talented enough to keep pace in the grueling playoffs.

All of that was erased once the playoffs started. Once they were up 3-1 in the series. The two things are mutually exclusive at that point.

This is sports, and LeBron was just being LeBron.

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it's the classic sports fallacy of trying to find meaning in a lose when the real reason is right your face: Steph and Clay missed shots. We somehow can't fathom that the "Splash Brothers" can miss a shot with the current sports narrative ongoing. Therefore, it MUST be something else than cracking under pressure.

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It really proves Barkley's warning against jump shooting teams. Go cold and you can't win. If your team is built around driving the paint and posting up, when you go through a cold spell, you are still drawing fouls and shooting high percentage shots.

Curry: .403/.400
Klay: .427/.350
Barnes: .352/.310
Iggy: .456/.304

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If any team 'goes cold' they usually can't win.

Yes, Golden State relies mostly on precision passing and jump shooting with two ultra elite shooters (Thompson & Curry) plus a unique all-purpose guy Draymond Green.

But they also were one of the better teams in terms of defensive efficiency. GSW historically has played pretty tough defense.

They won 67 games last year and the NBA title.

They won 73 games this year and lost in Game 7 of the NBA Finals in the last minute to without a doubt at this point top-3 greatest player to ever play the game (LeBron James).

That was A LOT of winning by 'jump shooting' Golden State, which Barkley always seemed annoyed by for some reason.

Right. So Barkley's theory should read: "You can't win if you are a jump shooting team and you happen to play against the greatest player of the current generation."

In the end, I think GSW just wore down due to the much, much tougher road to the Finals. Cleveland was clearly the fresher team in the end. Draymond getting himself suspended for game 5 when the Dubs had a chance to step over Cleveland's grave wound up being the difference IMO.

But teams built around shots in the paint can get past being cold shooting. Jump shooting teams cannot. Every team goes cold from time to time or has cold players.

03 Spurs had Parker shoot .386, SJax shoot .377, Manu shoot .348 and Bowen shoot .233. But they won because they focused on pounding it down low. Other than Duncan, only Robinson, Kerr and Claxton shot over .45%, and those three players only took 65 FGA over 6 games.

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But teams built around shots in the paint can get past being cold shooting. Jump shooting teams cannot. Every team goes cold from time to time or has cold players.

03 Spurs had Parker shoot .386, SJax shoot .377, Manu shoot .348 and Bowen shoot .233. But they won because they focused on pounding it down low. Other than Duncan, only Robinson, Kerr and Claxton shot over .45%, and those three players only took 65 FGA over 6 games.

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Yeah, 13 years ago you could win with defense alone. Nowadays you need to be able to keep defenses honest with outside shots. This year's Spurs team is proof of that. They couldn't buy a bucket from outside and lost.

I don't want to think too much into any argument. It was Game 7, winner take all. Both teams had off nights through out the series, both teams lost when the other was dominating. And if the Ws won, we'd be talking different points.

Bogut was not in the paint. He was worthless offensively, but he caused enough disruption in the paint to make a difference defensive side. But the Cavs weren't healthy last year so there's that. Injuries will be part of the game.

I think what it boils down to was LeBron and Kyrie. Irving was supposed to offset Steph last year, and once he got into a groove, he did just that. Westbrook should look at how it should've been done.

Love was almost a non factor this series, but played some smothering defense on the last shot Curry had.

It was a great series. As a fan, it sucks it ended.

Having to trade Bogut for Varajao cost Golden State a lot more than four points.

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But teams built around shots in the paint can get past being cold shooting. Jump shooting teams cannot. Every team goes cold from time to time or has cold players.

03 Spurs had Parker shoot .386, SJax shoot .377, Manu shoot .348 and Bowen shoot .233. But they won because they focused on pounding it down low. Other than Duncan, only Robinson, Kerr and Claxton shot over .45%, and those three players only took 65 FGA over 6 games.

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Yeah, 13 years ago you could win with defense alone. Nowadays you need to be able to keep defenses honest with outside shots. This year's Spurs team is proof of that. They couldn't buy a bucket from outside and lost.

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I think the point is more that when jump shots are not falling comma you have to be able to get close shot. Golden State could not do that. They don't have anyone that could post up on Thompson or LeBron.

When you look at the heat teams if LeBron or Wade jump shots weren't falling Kama both LeBron and Wade were great at posting up. Same with Jordan and Pippen or Kobe and Shaq or Kobe and Gasol. The thing that nearly every NBA championship team has in common is that they had the ability to get into the lane for high-percentage shots and jump shots were not falling. Golden State didn't have that. Last year it didn't hurt because LeBron was playing by himself.

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But teams built around shots in the paint can get past being cold shooting. Jump shooting teams cannot. Every team goes cold from time to time or has cold players.

03 Spurs had Parker shoot .386, SJax shoot .377, Manu shoot .348 and Bowen shoot .233. But they won because they focused on pounding it down low. Other than Duncan, only Robinson, Kerr and Claxton shot over .45%, and those three players only took 65 FGA over 6 games.

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And yet GSW still won 73 games and may have beaten the Cavs in 5 had Green not got suspended for Game 5.

Did the NBA Playoffs vs OKC and Cavs expose some weaknesses? sure. Is GSW still one of the 3 best teams in the NBA right now? yes, they still are.

But the Cavs still won 2 of the last 3 games with Green on the floor.

LeBron and Kyrie played game 5 possessed.

Cavs went 15-9 in the playoffs and they had a fairly easy road.

73-9 was great. But it either ran them down in the playoffs or they were exposed.

I get the regular season record + the harder Western conference road argument. But the Warriors are still a relatively young team. It was only until last season really that they started building up the mileage.

The same argument can be made for LeBron and his wear and tear over six straight Finals appearances.

I think the Cavs matched up well. OKC had the Warriors on the ropes. And had the Spurs faced them instead, I think that match up would have favored SA better.

The playoffs are also about the match ups, and I think had SA gotten passed OKC, they would've beaten the Warriors, and then the Cavs.

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But the Cavs still won 2 of the last 3 games with Green on the floor.

LeBron and Kyrie played game 5 possessed.

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Except that in game 6 Green seem to hold back so he didn't get suspended for game 7. He looked very timid in game 6 and played like his normal self in Game 7. If Draymond doesn't get suspended I think everyone is talking about how Cleveland and Lebron can't get over the hump and that the real NBA finals was the Western Conference Finals.

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But teams built around shots in the paint can get past being cold shooting. Jump shooting teams cannot. Every team goes cold from time to time or has cold players.

03 Spurs had Parker shoot .386, SJax shoot .377, Manu shoot .348 and Bowen shoot .233. But they won because they focused on pounding it down low. Other than Duncan, only Robinson, Kerr and Claxton shot over .45%, and those three players only took 65 FGA over 6 games.

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I think these playoffs demonstrate the consequences of jump shooting teams going cold as it appeared that there were quite a few blowouts between teams that were relatively equals.

The average margin of victory for games 1-6 was about 20 points.

The WCF had multiple blowouts for each team.
The ECF had blowouts, but the Cavs were always the superior team.

I don't know if the current style of play in the NBA leads to more potential blowouts, but it appears like that could be possible.

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Why the Warriors are not as great as the Bulls in the 90s, was a stupid comparison to begin with by the media.

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That conversation made all the sense in the world. That was the air they were in. They didn't finish that quest, but the conversation made sense all year.

If they gave Curry the Jordan treatment the entire finals maybe they finish the year off differently.

Speaking of mileage, Lebron has played 20 or more playoff games for 6 consecutive years now. No one is even close to the number of games played in that span... Wade and Bosh used to be close, but that has obviously changed.

I don't think mileage over the course of years matters as much as mileage for this season. GSW played a chippy series with both Houston and the Clips. Then a brutally physical series with OKC. Meanwhile, Cleveland didn't have get outta bed until Toronto.

GSW is a jump shooting team but more than that they're a motion team. When you start getting beat up the motion is slower and shots are flatter. They pulled out a miracle getting by OKC and just couldn't keep duplicating that.

You're right, but I also remember watching a documentary about the Bulls where the players said the accumulated years were so tough that they weren't sure they could have kept it together for a fourth season either time even if Jordan had stayed. Not just physically but emotionally.

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You're right, but I also remember watching a documentary about the Bulls where the players said the accumulated years were so tough that they weren't sure they could have kept it together for a fourth season either time even if Jordan had stayed. Not just physically but emotionally.

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I believe that especially for older teams.

And that what was my point. The Warriors are young enough to have gotten to 73 wins, and that as an excuse for not winning the title. I honestly dont think the regular season had them fatigued enough to not win one more game in a best of three series. Both teams look spent the final 5 minutes. Kyrie was just more clutch in his shot than either Curry or Thompson.

And on the topic of the regular season, Tristen Thompson didn't miss a beat playing the entire season and playoffs. Youth is huge.