They dominated Games 1 and 2, destroying Cleveland emphatically enough to begin chipping away at the very legend of LeBron James.
The King was 32 years old when these NBA Finals started. Now, based on the growing national narrative, he’s apparently 132, meaning his triple-double Sunday might have been some sort of record.
The Golden State Warriors quite simply overwhelmed the Cavaliers and NBA history, sweeping the best-of-7 series in two games, two embarrassingly lopsided games the likes of which no one had witnessed in this sport since … last year.
In fact, through its opening two uncompetitive contests, these Finals actually have been closer than the 2016 Finals.
The Warriors just won by a combined 41 points. A year ago, they won Games 1 and 2 by 48.
Then everyone traveled to Cleveland, where the Cavaliers, minus the injured Kevin Love, won Game 3 by 30 points, a performance made all the more remarkable by reports that already had pronounced the Cavs dead.
Yes, dead, as deceased as they are right now, at least according to multiple news agencies, some of which, when the real stuff is lacking, just make up news so they have something to report.
Now, do I expect Cleveland to win Wednesday night? Absolutely not. As of Tuesday, the Warriors were favored by three points, a total that seems about right — for the first five minutes. I’m predicting a final margin in double figures. If not more.
Do I think the Cavaliers will rebound to win this series? Well, let’s just say such a development would be only slightly more shocking than one day reading this headline: “LaVar Ball Breaks His Silence.”
Yet, my point is that dismissing this flippantly any team that includes James would be — in terms of prudent thinking — a move equal with giving four years and $64 million to Timofey Mozgov.
That’s what Mitch Kupchak did, and look what that logic got him.
Naturally, while it’s still too early for the Cavaliers to panic, it’s never too early for the rest of us to hyperventilate.
This explains why I’m pretty sure the Warriors in general and Kevin Durant in particular have broken the NBA, ruining a league that once felt so genuine it was easy to dismiss the notion everything might be fixed.
Durant opting to sign with Golden State, while perfectly within his rights as a free agent, was a business maneuver so evil that he should have been required to grow a sinister mustache fit for twirling between his thumb and index finger.
If Golden State’s core remains intact, the consensus seems to be the Warriors will reach the Finals every season for the foreseeable future, plus two or three seasons not yet seeable.
And, as the past seven years have taught us, James will be in the Finals no matter what, even if he stays in Cleveland but leaves the Cavaliers to join the Browns.
In other words, as useless as this past NBA regular season was, the next few could be even more useless, the only suspense being how long it takes for the Lakers not to stink anymore.
“From a league standpoint, you always want to see great competition,” Adam Silver said last week. “It’s what our fans want to see. It’s what we provide in this league.”
For the record, the commissioner didn’t specify when the NBA provides competition. Maybe during dance team tryouts. It certainly hasn’t been in the playoffs.
Which brings us to impending free agent Chris Paul, who is three weeks away from being in position to consider leaving the Clippers and going somewhere else where he can lose to the Warriors or Cavaliers.
The latest rumor linked Paul with San Antonio, an intriguing possibility since the Spurs, remember, were whipping Golden State in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals before Kawhi Leonard was injured and everything changed.
If he’s really worth that much, Leonard should win the MVP award unanimously and then be retroactively presented with the trophy from each of the previous five seasons, as well.
Let’s be real here. The Spurs weren’t going to beat the Warriors last month, regardless of Leonard’s health.
They also aren’t going to beat the Warriors with Paul, who can re-sign with the Clippers for roughly $205 million or another team for some $152 million, barely enough for a man to afford his own private island and army of talking flamingos.
It is an interesting place where the NBA sits today, a player such as Paul on the verge of being paid as much as $1 million every two games, and he still can’t afford a chance to win.
Frankly, if you aren’t joining Golden State or Cleveland this summer, it doesn’t matter where you’re going. At least as it relates to contending for an NBA championship.
Then again, these things can always change, as quickly as Durant shocked everyone last summer by leaving Oklahoma City.
Hey, a rapidly aging LeBron James is just one unlikely victory away from being young again, a plot twist that would spawn a funnel cloud of hyperventilation.
