The Three Ages of Man, Titian, 1512-14

This is the most poetic NBA championship in decades.

Remember the first Golden State Warriors championship team, clinched exactly seven years ago Thursday: a young Stephen Curry who had been a very nice young star but turned into an indisputable omega and a league MVP during a 67-win season and a postseason romp, culminating in beating a herculean LeBron James in the Finals. Before that season, Curry had made All-NBA just once and been an All-Star just once. Put it this way: Curry entering the 2014-15 season was less decorated than Jayson Tatum had been before this season.

Before that first Warriors championship season Draymond Green had started all of 13 NBA games. Before that season had not made an All-Star team. Before that season Steve Kerr had not been a head coach for a single NBA game. Before that season Andre Iguodala had only made it past the first round once in 10 years in the league.

Now consider the dizzying heights the Warriors reached in the aftermath of that first championship. Steph becoming the first unanimous NBA MVP ever. Breaking the single-season wins record. Defensive Player of the Year and All-Defense honors for Draymond; All-NBA nods for Klay; a historical re-evaluation of Iguodala’s contributions. Top-10 talk for Steph. Adding a second generational superstar in Kevin Durant and winning two more championships. Becoming the most watched NBA team in the league, by far. Becoming famous the world over. Literally changing how basketball is played at both a player and team level. Driving conversation after conversation about … well, everything: legacy, competitive balance, bus drivers. Being at the center of the universe.

And then in June 2019, in the quest for Championship No. 4, it all comes crashing down. On June 10, Durant is playing for the first time in a month due to a calf injury, ruptures his Achilles during Game 5 of the Finals. He’ll never play another game for Golden State. On June 13, Thompson tears his ACL in Game 6. He won’t play another NBA game for two years, six months and 28 days. Later that night, the Raptors eliminate the Warriors. On June 30, word breaks that Durant will sign with the Brooklyn Nets.

The next season, with Durant gone, Klay out and Curry breaking his hand in the first week of the season, the Warriors become literally the worst team in the NBA. They are one of eight teams left home from the COVID-19 bubble, a club referred to as the Delete Eight.

The Warriors keep making moves, spending money. Curry recovers from his hand injury. He plays at an MVP level in 2020-21. It’s not enough as the Warriors lose a play-in game to LeBron, that old rival, and miss the playoffs for the second straight season.

The Warriors keep making moves, spending money. Curry has a similar season. This time, Jordan Poole rises to the occasion to give him some help on offense. This time, Andrew Wiggins figures out his role and excels in it to the point that Golden State fans and other assorted sickos make him an NBA ALL-STAR STARTER. In January, Klay returns — slowly at first, then all at once. This time, with something to play for, Draymond Green rediscovers his true self. (The post-chip pod is amazing, by the way.)

And here we are in the end: Curry, Klay, Draymond hoisting a trophy with Iguodala (more a spiritual guide than on-court contributor now) and Kerr. Back to stunning, back to overachieving, back from some level of shadows (albeit temporary shadows).

No longer inevitable, or are they?

CJ Fogler AKA Perc70 #BlackLivesMatter @cjzero

"Holy cannoli" - Klay

June 17th 2022

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This is one of the most satisfying narrative arcs in NBA history since I’ve been alive, rivaled only by LeBron in Cleveland in 2016. The Spurs comparisons have been made, and I feel them to some degree. But the dizzying heights the Warriors reached with Durant for those three years, the depth of the hangover crash, and the fact that the original trio was so central to the rebirth here — it’s just kind of perfect, unless you dislike the Warriors or your Celtics fandom (understandably) prevents appreciation of what’s been accomplished right now.

(I’ll save Spurs-Warriors talk for the offseason, but the short version of my take is that the Duncan era is much more a progression of phases with different co-stars rising and falling, culminating with the Kawhi years, with Leonard having proven after Duncan’s retirement that he was not simply a cog in the system but an all-time talent in his own right, on a level comparable to David Robinson in the early phase and exceeding the level of Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili in that longest middle phase. I don’t think we’re going to see that evolution from, say, Wiggins or Poole. I should also note here that I believe I have Duncan higher on my all-time great list — somewhere in the 4-6 range — than 90% of pundits.)

I wrote a couple series ago that most of what we consider the ethereal Warriors secret sauce is really just Steph Curry. He’s a brilliant, paradigm-shifting player unlike anyone the league has ever seen. He decreases pressure on every teammate that shares the court and increases pressure on the opponent on every offensive possession. (He also played the best defense I have ever seen him play in Game 6. The entire Warriors rotation with the exception of Poole played superlative defense in this game. After Game 3, the Warriors defense as a whole was even better than Boston’s, which often looks impossible to score on in the halfcourt.) Curry is not just the center of everything the Warriors can and have accomplished. He’s the Sun, the natural force that makes all other successes possible. This is not a slight to any of the others. But one just needs to look at the 2019-20 season, one just needs to look at Wiggins’ career in Minnesota, one just needs to look at this series. Just as he was a blistering new-wave MVP in 2014-15, Curry is the sauce.

But what we have also learned from this rebirth is that even the greatness of Curry requires support. We know this from other modern NBA greats who struggled to grasp the O’Brien without co-stars: LeBron before Wade, Kobe between Shaq and Pau, Durant before Curry. Steph was arguably better in 2020-21 than he was in 2021-22. The Warriors were not close in that season to where they were this year. Not close. Even with Steph taking a tiny step back during the regular season, the rise of Poole and Wiggins and return of Klay vaulted the team. In Game 4 of this very series, with the Warriors down 2-1 on the road, it was all Steph. In Game 5, when he went 0-for-three for the first time in ages, the support stepped in to give him the boost he needed, the boost he didn’t get very much last season. The symbiosis elevated both Steph and the others.

Again, this is a deeply satisfying arc for a deeply enjoyable team led by a deeply satisfying player. The Celtics are also quite enjoyable, and have an interesting arc dating back to the Kyrie era and the bubble run. Jayson Tatum had a painful series. Jaylen Brown was better, but has one very, very clear area of needed improvement. Robert Williams III looks like a player who can change this team’s trajectory. I suspect much of what the Celtics do going forward revolve around internal growth and marginal tweaking. I’m eager to see where their arc heads next. We’re expecting great things, and maybe even a rematch.

But for now, it’s time to appreciate the rise and fall and rise again of the Warriors. It’s still their world. It’s still their league.

Next week in GMIB! On Monday: Sue Bird appreciation, lots of links and a weekend WNBA wrap-up. Here’s the weekend W schedule, by the way. On Tuesday: NBA offseason preview. On Wednesday: NBA draft talk, probably. On Thursday: NBA trade talk, probably. On Friday: NBA draft and/or trade reaction.

Thank you for your support this season and every season!