On July 4, 2016 Kevin Durant announced he’ll be joining the Golden State Warriors; leaving the Thunder. Lost in all the vapid hot takes and predictable vitriol was the obvious reality: this made the league better because it elevated competition.

The best players…well really the greatest are defined by what they overcome and this has been a significant mythology throughout the history of the NBA.
Reggie Miller had to learn how to overcome the Knicks. Jordan hadda overcome the Bad Boys. So many more examples and battles and of course not all of them were victorious.

So far the Rockets have continually reloaded and attempted to take on the Warriors and have failed. Not good enough; try again. The Trail Blazers have tried and also failed; Not good enough; try again. Those teams haven’t learned to overcome…to excel to rise to the level of competition that a fully stocked Warriors team commands.

I’m so grateful for dynasties; I’ll never understand hating on dynasties. They’re so important…the NBA allows for clearly defined and established metrics so that the best can be recognized and immortalized.

And if you want to be the best you hafta beat the best. This is what makes the overcoming mythology so compelling.

Ain’t no value in being a one hit wonder. Who forms a band only to have be a one hit wonder?! Cavs and Mavs apparently. Nah man…make records not hits.

And so we find ourselves in the 2019 NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Toronto Raptors.

While Toronto can make the games competitive they can’t win the series.

What Golden State is doing right now is incredible. They’re making records. At the time watching Jordan and the Bulls murder the dreams and hopes of cities, players and franchises 6 different times it was spellbinding. We saw just a hint of that with the LA Lakers in the early 2000s.

But even they never went for 5 in a row. I wanna see in my lifetime a team get to the NBA Finals 6, 7 times…more. And keep winning.

Players from Europe are getting better, NCAA kids are getting better…the competition will continue to improve and become stronger. It will be harder and the Warriors will have to work to overcome all of that.

Which sucks for the Raptors. Warriors in 6. Though I would not at all be surprised if this was sweep. (It’s not haterade; it’s history. No team from the East has a legit chance of success against Golden State. That much became apparent once the playoffs began. Savor it…history doesn’t happen often and this run will be over before you know it.)

NBA Playoffs 2019:Game 1 tomorrow night: yo let’s get it on!

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Listen to My Summer Lair @ W • T • F

Also published on Medium.