I’ve had about enough of the Warriors

Published 4:36 pm Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Have you ever had something, or a group of somethings, that you have disliked, dare I say disdained, for no apparent reason? Something that just irks you but you can’t put a finger on why.

That is currently where I am at with the 2015-16 edition of the Golden State Warriors. A team that for years was in the gutter of the NBA (the saying used to go that the only reason for the NBA regular season was to eliminate the Warriors and Clippers) and is now the sweetheart of the league.

They just broke the Bulls’ record for wins in a season with their rainbow threes. That Bulls team had Jordan, Pippen and Rodman, three Hall of Famers that even the causal fan would recognize and know. They also had Kerr, who coincidently coaches the Warriors.

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Those late 90’s Bulls teams and then the early 2000’s Lakers teams made me a basketball fan. I may have been too young to remember watching Jordan play specifically, but I remember my dad having the games on.

Maybe that is why I don’t like the Warriors. Maybe it is nostalgia. A reminder of players like Chris Webber, Iverson, Kobe and Shaq (when you only need the players first or last name, then you know they were/are special). Young Duncan dominating, Robert Horry hitting game winners, Jason Kidd somehow making the Nets of all teams good, Ben Wallace with the fro, these are the players that made me a fan.

Some of them were cocky, some of them were arrogant (I’m looking at you Kobe), but each of them was great and timeless.

Now we have the Warriors. I admit Curry is the best shooter I have seen. He is a player made for YouTube and Vine with viral highlights. I watch him play and can’t believe the shots he makes. At the same time though, it really annoys me that he makes all these shots. Throwing up a really deep three early in the shot clock after an awe inspiring step back is amazing to watch. But man is it a bad shot! He makes them though, so no one cares. He’s J.R. Smith (sorry if you don’t know him, just go watch his highlights on the Knicks, not the current version of him on the Cavs), but the shots are falling.

Then you have Draymond Green. He is my dislike of the Warriors personified. He’s out there playing lockdown defense and dropping dimes, dropping dimes (that Kevin Love/Damian Lillard commercial is HILLARIOUS). But at the same time he is so unbearably cocky and brash. He’s like the proverbial bear that keeps poking the beehive. Eventually he gets stung, but in the NBA the bee that does the stinging gets in trouble and Green wins.

This all semi came to a head Sunday night when Green was doing what he does, taking a small amount of contact and flailing every limb like he had been attacked to sell the foul.

Well one of those limbs, his right foot/ankle to be exact, slammed Thunder center Steven Adams right in the kiwis (aka groin-he’s from New Zealand so it’s a funny code name) with a kick like he was Daniel (Ralph Macchio) defeating Johnny (William Zabka) of Cobra Kai (if you don’t know the reference I’m sorry).

Whether it was intentional (probably not) or not is beyond the point. It was unnecessary for a minor foul to his hand.

This, I think, is why I dislike the Warriors. It is their personalities mixed with the winning and the fact that I like the ole’ Spurs.

May the Thunder continue what they did in Game 3 and roll right to the finals so the Warriors love dies down for a little while.

 

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