Warriors, Come Out And Play

That’s a line from one of my favorite films, The Warriors.

But this post is not about those Warriors.

It is about the Golden State Warriors.

Who are now the world champions for the second time in three years and did it impressively in five games.

Like most of this NBA season, it wasn’t even close.

The Warriors, with the addition of KD, have assembled a dynasty, if they can stay healthy and keep the core together. Steph, KD, Draymond, and Klay are four of the best twenty players in the league and they are all on the same team.

This dynasty could go on for a while unless some other team can match it. Maybe the Spurs if they get CP3? Or maybe the Celtics or the Sixers if they can assemble some terrific young talent?

But those are big maybes.

We may have to get used to seeing these players with the trophy in their hands for a while.

#Sports

Comments (Archived):

  1. Nikhil Basu Trivedi

    i, for one, hope we see another Warriors vs. Cavs finals. great piece tonight on The Ringer: https://theringer.com/2017-

  2. jason wright

    Playing with fire dude? You know what happened the last time you mentioned Warriors.

  3. prankeapple

    I was right. Warriors in 5. The streets have been completely chaotic since the victory (did I just give away where I live? oops). Here’s a great article from last year about how the Warriors, who were just a short time ago the laughing stock of basketball, experienced a turn-around courtesy of Joe Lacob:https://www.nytimes.com/201

  4. Salt Shaker

    Prediction: Knicks trade Melo for Kevin Love. Cavs need more offensive firepower at the 3, Melo w/ his trade restricted contract wants to play for a championship caliber team like Cavs. Love had a horrible series against GS, while it’s questionable how well he gets along w/ LBJ.

  5. Dan Epstein

    2 questions I have now that it’s over.Is this Warriors team the best team ever?Is LBJ playing for Cleveland next year?

    1. Dan Epstein

      Scratch #2. LBJ is back for at least one more year.

  6. awaldstein

    Film not basketball geek here needs to admit that I don’t know the film though have bumped into video game variation of it in my gaming years.I will fix this omission.

    1. fredwilson

      I love it. Classic Walter Hill film. Maybe the best of that genre

      1. Mike Zamansky

        With great NY on location shots (albeit sometimes the real geography misses a bit).

    2. Anne Libby

      A classic NYC film! Do it.(Though on the subject of gaps, I have to admit that I just saw *The Godfather* for the first time.)

      1. awaldstein

        Will find and view. Thanks.

  7. narikannan

    How sad for NBA? This season was as much fun as seeing paint dry! I will wait for a season where we have the best players spread across many teams and we have some real excitement. Remember the Yankees?

    1. fredwilson

      I agree with you but I don’t want to rain on their parade the day after their title

      1. edzschau

        Warriors built their team under the same salary constraints and requirements as all other NBA teams. The difference is the Warriors attracted players like David West and Zaza Pichulia who could command millions more elsewhere because they wanted a chance to win a championship. KD came for the same reason and hopefullly will not demand max contract to keep the team together next season. Great companies with great cultures and track records of achievement sustain themselves because they attract exceptional people who are willing to sacrifice comp or other things to be on a winning team. How Lacob and Guber built the Warriors iexemplifies how grear companies are built. I’ll watch that paint dry any day.

        1. JamesHRH

          KD’s smarts are vastly underrated.He came to play spread style hoops inside the best organization in the NBA. Titles are a result, not the reason.

    2. JamesHRH

      If you are a fan of excellence in team sports, the Ws are crack.Time to see how long it takes the rest of the Association to ‘move to the cloud’.I have $100 bucks that says wholesale roster, coaching and GM changes occur at 15 teams in the next 18 months, excluding the Knicks, of course, because……. Dolan.

      1. Rob Larson

        “If you are a fan of excellence in team sports, the Ws are crack.”Exactly right.

    3. Rob Larson

      narikannan – I see it differently.1- if you like watching team basketball played beautifully, the Warriors have been breathtaking to watch. It’s like the 7-seconds-or-less Suns offense with better defense and better players. Unselfish, team basketball played at the highest level. Smart ball movement, smart shot selection, smart schemes. Beautiful to watch.2- Contrary to popular sentiment, viewership #s go up when you have a small number of dominant teams, rather than parity. Sustained parity, with different teams winning the title each year, leads to lower viewership. People stop caring (or at least care less). When you have a few consistently dominant teams, people care more who wins. One team might play the villain and another the hero in people’s minds, but that makes them care and tune in to watch. The Lakers/Celtics rivalry in the 80s saved the NBA from widespread apathy. Everyone had a preference – they liked one of those teams more and rooted against the other. The Yankees dominance in the 90’s, much as people hated them, led to greater viewership. People rooted for the underdog heroes to prevail against the bad guys. Villains and heroes make for good TV drama.

  8. creative group

    CONTRIBUTORS:Bandwagonners be damned!Casual fan reigns supreme.Wealthy GS Warriors owners wouldn’t know the basketball basics if it hit them in the mouth. Interviews were like listening to nails on the chalkboard.————–Joseph Steven Lacob (Majority Owner) (Partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers) on a professional level he earned it the old fashioned way.—————DISCLOSURE:He fired Mark Jackson. A firing identical to Tony Dungy being fired by Tampa Bay so Gruden gets an easy Superbowl win.

    1. edzschau

      Wealthy Warriors owners took over a team in 2010 that was the laughing stock of the NBA and turned it into a 3 time NBA Finals team (and 2 time NBA champs). Great example of organizational turnaround when you have a vision, hire great people and build a solid culture. That team plays selfless team basketball. They have 3-4 more years together. The Warriors will be regarded as one of the greatest NBA dynasties because a couple of owners knew what they were doing.

      1. creative group

        edzchau:That team was a laughing stock before Mark Jackson gave it the identity. Review who drafted who. Mark Jackson just started to smell himself and couldn’t get along with ownership because he wanted more control. Mark Jackson knew he had the basketball knowledge the Billy Beene wanna be didn’t. They resented it. (No need to validate the inside sources just facts)

        1. edzschau

          Jackson was a good coach but could not get along with people he could not control. Kerr’s style is more adaptable and consistent with Warriors culture and values.

          1. JLM

            .Actually, I think Kerr injected the secret sauce which made the Warriors culture and values percolate.He did the same thing Wooden did — he let the players play.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

          2. edzschau

            True. Kerr’s style and sense of people make him a great coach. He does let the team play more freely. I believe he has potential to build a greater coaching legacy than Phil Jackson eventually.

          3. JLM

            .He has a fabulous sense of humor and he was a guard which is important for a team like the Warriors who emphasize guard play and mobility.His future (and the Warriors’) is held hostage to the continuity and consistency of personnel.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

          4. JamesHRH

            He also has a willingness to take a risk – he won a Finals on an open 3 for the Bulls.

          5. JaredMermey

            Great choice not to join the Knicks – as sad as that is to say 🙁

      2. edzschau

        Wyc Grousbeck is doing same thing in Boston. He and Celtics won NBA title in 2007 but did it with a different composition of players. His approach this time around is to build with a more selfless type of basketball player and a coaching staff that works more cohesively. I think the Celtics will surpass the Cavs next year because they are applying lessons from the Warriors on how to build a sustainable winning organization.

        1. creative group

          edzschau:you reply and respond to yourself. Stop it.

        2. creative group

          edzschau:Lacob was a minority owner with Celtics with. Grousbeck. That is where Lacob was schooled. Lacob grew up as a Celtics fan. He grew up in that God awful Massachusetts.When people become wealthy the narrative is never about who helped them but all self made ingredients. Check the stats on that statement on the majority of business types.

          1. edzschau

            Agreed that Lacob was a minor owner of Celts when Wyc was Managing General Partner but not sure Lacob was ‘schooled’ whe he was an LP in the Celtics.

          2. JLM

            .Back in the Celtics LP days, I bought an LP share for my entire adult, city league basketball team. I think they were $18/each.We used to call ourselves, The Boston Celtics Ownership Group.I used to foul anyone I could to force them to shoot the foul shots, a la the Celtics.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

          3. creative group

            edzschau:When an organization wins or a individual becomes successful professionally they get to write and control the narrative. If you are attempting to push Lacob was born in the NBA family and wasn’t instructed or observed how to manage of team that narrative will fly with the casual fan without any understanding of the league (NBA) and Organizations.On a professional level we acknowledge Lacob is a successful VC and is a beast in that space. But he is only a recipient of the success of the Warriors Organization. (Mark Jackson’s blueprint was Indiana Pacers defense and Mike Di’antoni Suns Offensive system) We will all agree to disagree. We are Knicks supporters and NBA Organizations outside of that are not that important. RANTJames Dolan is the worst NBA owner in modern times.Dolan inherited Cablevision and failures include:Wiz electronics and Entertainment Clearview CinemasDolan please sell MSG and entities to a caring owner. Go and play in Monaco, anywhere.

          4. edzschau

            Not pushing any narrative. Lacob loves basketball, is a successful VC / businessman and is good with people. His first venture into basketball ownership was a failure: a women’s professional basketball league. Though the league was a failure financially, he showed a lot of integrity by personally paying all the bills to vendors and payroll to players and staff even though the league was folding. He learned from that experience and he learned from his ownership in the Celtics.

    2. Salt Shaker

      Oy, Larry Riley drafted Stephen and Klay as GS GM, and his successor, Bob Myers, worked the KD signing. Don’t conflate a coach’s role w/ that of a GM. One buys the parts to a car the other assembles it. I know for fact Klay’s agent was quite concerned about his draft status literally the night before the NBA draft. They were concerned he’d fall precipitously. No one thought Stephen or Klay would be as good as they’ve become at the pro level. Everyone thought Stephen didn’t have the physicality to compete at the next level. I’m a big Mark Jackson fan (yes, he got hosed), but let’s give credit where credit is due.

      1. edzschau

        Agreed, you need grear decision making in the draft, free agency and trades to build the team which is the GM’s role. You also need a great coach to develop the talent and mold them to play well together. Need both to build a great team. Larry drafted Steph, Bob drafted Klay, Draymond, Harrison and Festus. Jackson brought them along their first three years together including two playoff appearances. The team upgraded through free agency, got a more better coach in Kerr and had put together a great run the last three years. Hopefully more to come.

      2. creative group

        Salt Shaker:if you review our posts it would be difficult to confuse us with amplification, embellishment or hyperbolic positions. We relish being UNAPOLOGETICALLYUNEQUIVOCALLYINDEPENDENT in our views.The position we have taken on posts today evolve from a glimpse of the inside verses outside looking in with a decision maker. No horn needs to be tooted because we are unable to claim any part of that situation.Again research how Mark Jackson’s decision making was nontrivial in those drafts. Mark Jackson wanted to be an Executive Chef and it was frowned upon by those with less knowledge of the game. Money is power on that level.

  9. William Mougayar

    I was rooting for Cleveland, but KD is such a magician. He is my favorite, most consistent player in the league today.

  10. Tom Labus

    It gets tougher to hang in there with the NBA playoffs which go on forever. Some kind of new format that we’re done mid May would be nice.

    1. someone

      Agreed, 5-game series for playoffs.

    2. JamesHRH

      NHL can be the same, except the War of Attrition is what makes winning Stanley Cup the toughest team accomplishment in sports.Pittsburgh won without the #1 D-man. Preds lost without the #1 Centre.

  11. Jeremy Robinson

    KD gets his ring. That’s the headline. With it comes the recognition that he’s a close 1B to King James’ 1A. All these guys made some amazing circus basketball plays in these Finals. If you are a real fan of basketball you have to have love some of the plays you just saw. How many more years do the Dubs keep at this new dynasty? Like many other so-called sports experts I predict 2 or 3 more years and then, as they say, things happen. Black swan events. People being people because people are messy. Things change. Enjoy it while you’ve got it if you like basketball. The new and younger players are getting better and better. The game is winning is my bottom line because the players are faster, longer, leaner and more athletic than ever.

  12. pointsnfigures

    KD the difference. Saw a stat where when Lebron was on the floor, Cavs won by 6. When he was off the floor, Warriors up by 35!! KD shoots 14-20Field (70%) 5-8 (62.5%) 3PT 6-6FT (1.000%) in Game 5. That’s blazing hot, especially when you look at how many shots were contested. For comparison, Curry was 2-9 (22.2%) from 3pt and Thompson was 3-7 (42.8%).

    1. JLM

      .The KD for Harrison Barnes swap was THE move.Barnes hit 16% in the last three games last year. KD smoked them.Whoever engineered that move gets the kudos.Well played.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  13. george

    Congrats to All Warrior Fans and Props to the Cav’s, they put up a good fight over the last two games.I would suggest that this dynasty really began when GS got their Culture right (Owners, Jerry West, Steve Kerr, Player Talent and Team Chemistry); not unlike the business world.The Team that Executes the best, usually ends up the Winner…

  14. JamesHRH

    Its interesting that no one on this forum notices that the Ws are a case study in how major innovation occurs:- underlying opportunity creating change to environment occurs (NBA adopts 3 point line)- initial impact of change is only incremental- band of outsiders attempt radical innovation but fail (D’antoni / Nash / Amare / Diaw Suns)- 2nd Gen innovators crack the entire code and a new era beginsThe timeline is eye opening as well:- NBA adopts the 3 in 1980- Nash / Suns era was 2002-2010- Warriors era begins in 2012Its important to note that the Ws had the plan in place for some time and were widely derided. Curry was drafted in 2009, Klay was drafted 11th overall in 2011 (considered a reach by most ‘knowledge insiders’) and Dray was drafted 35th overall in 2012 (indicating that the league, including the Spurs & Ws, had no idea of his value – Spurs traded a pick to Ws in this draft (30) and the Ws drafted Harrison Barnes @ 7 and Festus Ezeli (30) before Dray!!!!!!: https://en.wikipedia.org/wi….Dray is the Boris Diaw in the Ws version of the spread. A unique, once in a generation multi-purpose talent and arguably the 2nd most valuable Warrior behind KD because of the diverse number of options he provides for the team.Unlike Steph & Klay, KD and Dray create matchup nightmares on both ends of the floor. They can post up, pass, shoot the 3 & KD can handle the rock / drive to the hoop while Dray has terrific floor understanding (note the help side D seals he provided to let Steph get to the rack last night). They can both guard multiple players, cannot be overpowered in the post easily (Klay fits here as well), can read the pick and roll and defend on the perimeter.Klay is a multiple position defender and Steph is all world matchup headache on O, but only a slightly above average, one position (guard) defender who can be overpowered in the post.The Ws have perfected the spread innovation by focusing on the weaknesses that D’Antoni still will not admit exist. The Ws:- start by building team defensive capabilities (every starter is above avg to excellent on D now, first 4 guys off the bench play great D, first 2 can guard multiple positions – Iggy, Livingston, McCaw Javale)- making post players a supporting role rather than a big ticket item (Bogut, Ezeli, Zaza & West versus Amare – D’antoni has accepted this in Houston, FWIW)- finding the Drive, D & 3 balance across the roster by finding lots of multipurpose players (goodbye Harrison Barnes), hello KD, Dray, Klay, Iggy & Livingston.Of note, the Cavs took side to side aspects of the spread away from the Ws last night, but the Ws adapted by running a limited version of the spread with only Steph & KD, which became unguardable.The era of 1on1 dominance and D leading to championships is over. The Ws have made clearout 1on1 teams obsolete. The spread / pick and roll is the winner.The Ws flexibility, ‘do your job’ culture and their focus on the value of multpurpose players reminds an attentive sports observer of only one other NA pro sports team: The New England Patriots.The Spurs are in a huge hole w Aldridge, despite having several core spread pieces (share the ball culture, Kawhi, Danny Green). The Clippers are 20 years out of date ( I wouldn’t touch CP3 with a 10 foot pole – can’t shoot the 3). The Raptors are going to blow up the team and ask DeRozan to become Klay (think about that for a while).Right now, the league has 2, maybe 3 teams that should scare the Ws or the Cavs: Portland and Milwaukee (maybe the Bullets):- Portland has a great GM, owner, culture and a lots of good spread pieces (guard, wings, bigs). They lack multi-purpose defenders though.- Milwaukee has the Freak, but Jason Kidd is a cancer (ownership mirrors Red Sox and Ws in their background though)- Bullets have bigs & guards, but again seem to be missing the multi-purpose defenders (and , more worrisomely, the understanding of their value).Everybody else is playing the old way and has no chance.Oh, and BTW, the biggest issue with the Cavs is their culture. LeBron dominates the team, Lu is not a coach, the owner and GM do not define the culture (not the case in Oakland).JR Smith was 7 for 8 on 3Ptrs (9 for 11 overall) for 25 points last might. Kyrie was 9 for 22 for 26 points. The difference in the game was the Cavs inability to get a white hot JR – a member of the NBA Bi-Polar Streak Shooter Mt. Rushmore (w Vinnie ‘The Microwave’ Johnson, John Starks and Vernon ‘Mad Max’Maxwell) more good looks.The Ws got more shots to a hot bench player – Iggy went 9 for 14 – than the Cavs did to a white hot starter. That’s on LeBron.LeBron is amazing, but he has never been on a team that got everything it could out of everyone. This stems from his personality and his unwillingness to put himself in high risk situations (pass to Korver / KD 3 sequence in Game 3 being Exhibit A on the difference between KD & LeBron).KD knows his job is to be The Man. Le Bron’s thinks his job is to reduce risk at all time, including reducing personal risk exposure to LeBron (hence the triple double average built through the first 3 quarters but the 4th quarter disappearing act, except for last night, when they were so far behind that there was no risk and he took it to the rack mercilessly – which he never does when the game is in the balance and likely makes Dan Gilbert want to commit hari kari).For an interesting NFL analogy discussion, LeBron = Peyton; KD = Eli.

    1. JLM

      .What he said.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

    2. PhilipSugar

      I don’t follow basketball too much and you seem to have some deep insight but I would quibble with the Peyton analogy.If you saw where he got his neck horribly hurt, he literally looks in his helmet which had just gotten torn off because he was standing in the pocket to take a huge hit and try to complete the pass.They asked him why he was looking in the helmet. He said he thought his head was still in it.https://www.washingtonpost….There is audio of him coming over to the sideline and telling Tony Dungy we need to call a run because he can’t feel his arm..He goes on to throw 244 yards in the second half.

      1. JamesHRH

        The comparison is based on personality:- LeBron and Peyton are risk mitigating by nature- Peyton’s preparation and audible calling was designed to limit the execution risk in each play, while putting O in maximum position for success- its why they both struggle with choking rep: tight games increase the risk of each ‘clutch time’ play and they struggle to embrace the risk- Eli & KD are different: more analytical, less compelled to make the most of every play, game or season…..unwilling to run the entire O (Peyton) or team (LeBron), more able / willing to recognize when all the pieces are in place rather than taking on more responsibility- Eli & KD have less capacity or belief or confidence in their individual breadth of capacity or ability to shoulder a larger volume of responsibility but are far more capable of confidence spikes in their specific role, especially in clutch situations- KD’s 3 at end of Game 3: name the defining LeBron shot you would compare it to…..hint: there isn’t one- The Manningham or Tyree throws by Eli: name the Peyton comparable……hint: there are none.Its why Eli had 2 teams with a chance to be Super Bowl winners and has 2 rings.Its why KD now is 1 for 2 (likely to be 3 for 4 or 4 for 5), while LeBron is 3 for 8 and likely to be 3 for 10 or 11.KD & Eli are capable of moments of greatness, especially when surround by excellent pieces; LeBron & Peyton are consistently excellent and make everyone around them better.My fave all time person for this type of personality based clutch efficiency is golfer Lee Janzen – https://en.wikipedia.org/wi… .Janzen only won 8 PGA events, but won the Open twice and the Players (fifth major). He only had 3 other Top Tens finishes in majors, which means he closed the deal when he was playing good in the majors @ a ridiculous 50% efficiency. At the same rate, Nicklaus would have 36+ majors (didn’t look up his Player record).When Janzen got it going, he closed it out more than anybody.

    3. PhilipSugar

      Again on Peyton you take this hit, and tell me you stay in the game and then go onto to have a great second quarter: https://www.youtube.com/wat…I am a Cowboy fan so no love of Indy.

      1. JamesHRH

        Can’t watch that video from Canada.No doubt as to the toughness of either of LeBron or especially Peyton. But, its a mentality driven by innate personality traits issue.They cannot embrace risk.

    4. Rob Larson

      Love the comparison to tech innovation and to the Suns. Brilliant comment.Another way LeBron-as-coach hurt them: playing time / rest in Game 3. Cavs had game 3 in the bag, but Lebron and Kyrie completely ran out of gas and were utterly ineffective in the last 3 minutes after getting no rest during the previous 45. A true coach on the sideline would have made sure they got a little more rest along the way, and perhaps they could have won game 3. (still would have lost the series though, probably in 6 games)

      1. JamesHRH

        Thanks.The NBA situation just screamed at me – systemic example of innovation. The most interesting piece, to me, is the number of elements required to change the status quo…….including the adoption of some principles from the status quo. In this case, that D wins rings.Not many startup people are actually interested in the systemic side of massive innovation. It seems to me that the use of Carlotta Perez as an investing discipline @ AVC is a big part of their success. I have always thought the adoption of Ms. Perez’s insights came from Brad Burnham…..maybe @fredwilson:disqus will let us know.On the Cavs point, I agree. LeBron’s ability is great, but his reliance on his own contribution is his greatest weakness. If I was to guess, I think he passively / accidentally undermines his teammates because he cannot hide his lack of trust in their abilities, which is really just him only wanting to rely on himself.No Channing Frye in the Finals. Korver ineffective. The only guy who performed at all was JR, and he is certifiably confident, in the funnest way possible in sports. And LeBron has already sworn his allegiance to JR.And they still didn’t get him shots.PS – founder of Viacom, Sumner Redstone, is a Peyton / LeBron type. In his book, he says ‘I am the company and the company is me.’ Then, later in the book, he heaps praise on the abilities of his younger brother, who eventually became an investment banker I think. Sumner truly flummoxed – just couldn’t see why Little Bro didn’t want to stay…….Don’t think LeBron is that bad, but……

  15. Vitor Conceicao

    Loved the opening lines. That Warriors movie was a classic on my teen years. It used to play a lot on afternoon broadcast TV here in Brazil in the eighties.

  16. Hiyito Patada

    Warriors are great, but the NBA is not. Weak league, right now. As my newphew says, “It’s a yawnburger.” I didn’t watch one game.90’s Bulls would’ve run these guys. Laimbeer, Oakley, Rodman, Malone, Mahorn… even Shaq and Kobe… all would’ve swatted these guys like flies. You know, back when the NBA was a mans game and teams were rivals, with real identity and pride. Not the over-officiated corporate enterprise that coddles spoiled millionaires on the court, like it is now. No players like Durant, who instead of leading a team, rides on an already ringed teams coattails. Back then, you couldn’t slither to the hoop the way Steph does now without one of the aforementioned players ripping your head off and then stuffing it with your own shit.Right now, MLS is more entertaining. Considering that MLS is a second-rate soccer league, that’s saying something. Stanley Cup playoffs were far better, too.

    1. JamesHRH

      If you watched the game last night and how it was called, you would not make this statement. Laimbeer would have fouled out in the first quarter. Mahorn would never see the floor, as he would get eaten alive in the pick and roll.No one on the Pistons can guard their Ws opposite, excepting Rodman. The Ws would drown the Pistons in 3s. Dumars was their only 3 threat, and he was a slow heavy 6’5″ 2. Klay would eat him alive, he would barely even touch the ball and never get a decent look.This is ridiculous.

      1. Hiyito Patada

        No way. Bad Boy Pistons would eat the Warriors alive, and then use their bones to pick their teeth. :)(Laimbeer fouling out in the first quarter is part of the problem with the NBA now. Too soft.)

        1. JamesHRH

          Good of you to state your actual complaint – you dislike the new NBA.If you called it 80’s style, the Pistons would hospitalize every Ws starter except for Dray in the first quarter.But, they don’t. So the Pistons would get clobbered.Its why comparing generations of sports is relatively pointless, as most leagues – excluding baseball – have altered their rules to make them more TV / fan friendly.

  17. JaredMermey

    You must be a VC if you suggest the Sixers 🙂

  18. JaredMermey

    Games 3-5 was the most entertaining basketball I have ever watched. The pace and skill with which both teams played was something I had never seen before.

  19. Ciaran

    “Who are now the world champions”Fred – surely you are enough of a global citizen to realise this is a bit of a ridiculous statement? I appreciate that the US has many if not all of the best basketball players in the world, but last time I checked the competition this team just won didn’t involve any teams outside of North America.They may well be the best basketball team in the world (we have no way of knowing really), but they are definitely not world champions. And neither are the winners of baseball’s World Series of course.

  20. Brad Franklin

    I remember that movie. 3 point shooting was incredible. Just think if they addd a 4 point shot line

  21. fredwilson

    a well deserved bask, i might add

  22. Elia Freedman

    I’m a Cavs fan, born and raised. I couldn’t read the articles but I would have upvoted 4-1 Warriors. That was my general thinking, too. Cavs have, frankly, been uninspiring all season. KD and the Warriors aside, the Cavs just don’t play enough defense to beat the Warriors in a seven game series.

  23. Twain Twain

    James and I said 6. Yours is spot on!

  24. JLM

    .Very strong predictive performance by the organic bread man. Give him his due. Well played.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  25. sigmaalgebra

    The Warriors are, in a word, exceptional. You saw that and said “Warriors in 5” which was also exceptional.The exceptional nearly necessarily is, in a word, rare. Rare means not many people will agree so that rare and exceptional are unpopular, i.e., “No upvotes, no comments.”The nonsense with high irony attached is that nearly everyone pretends to be highly interested in, to pursue, be devoted to, etc. the rare and exceptional, e.g., super heroes in movies that can be admired by large audiences. But the super heroes of the movies are not at all realistic. The fact remains: The rare and exceptional are unpopular.One way to be rare and exceptional is to be really lucky.Otherwise something that really is exceptional will be appreciated by so few people that it won’t be popular until after, maybe long after, the game is over, even if then.How actually to do something exceptional will nearly necessarily be misunderstood by nearly everyone — else it wouldn’t be rare or exceptional.

  26. JamesHRH

    Kudos. 4 & 6 were more popular picks.

  27. creative group

    Charlie Crystle:and the ten upvoted casual fan (Cough, cough, bandwagonners).You guys played a hell of a game.Your rotations, screens, three pointers, blocks, weak side help,unselfish play beat LeBron and company. Good job guys. You are a dynasty but the Miami Heat story line doesn’t fit.(Curry seeing the writing on the wall that KD was going to win MVP started launching shots on the end were pathetic)

  28. JamesHRH

    good analysis.

  29. Dan Epstein

    I thought a sweep was likely (but was happy to have more to watch). The game last night wasn’t that close, but if Cleveland could have taken it, it would have made for a loud game 6 in Cleveland. And maybe a game 7.

  30. creative group

    Charlie Crystle:”I didn’t watch all season, only last night.”you only validated you are a casual fan and only capable of predicting a lucky number that statistically wasn’t difficult. We would be more impressed with a prediction on a ICO or cryptocurrency no one knows about with entry now.Bandwagonners be damn!If you guys want credit go to your nearest credit union. Good rates.

  31. JamesHRH

    You have to do the right things to be lucky.As mentioned in my thesis post, Ws drafted Festus Ezeli and Draymond Green back to back in 2012. They are very similar and their draft position indicates the Ws did not know, from the Get Go, that Dray would become Dray.One turned into a generational talent, the other turned into a solid NBA spread era wing and became more valuable than the Ws budget allowed.Easy pick on who to jettison. But 33 picks happened in the 2012 draft, before the Ws got both of them.Lucky, sure, but greatness is not an accident.

  32. sigmaalgebra

    Gee, you seem to know a lot about what my brother called round ball! When he was in high school, he wanted to be a sports writer. Sooooo, as a college freshman, an English prof put him in his honors English writing class!Good news: Nearly all the other students were girls, usually pretty girls!!!!!! Bad news: The girls were really, Really, REALLY good at writing, likely not sports writing but some version of belle lettre.Later I went to the same college, but gott’a tell you, no chance, no way, no how, never happened did an English prof talk me into anything special in his department. Instead, I wanted the material in the math and physics departments and tried hard to stay out of any of the other departments, mostly successfully!Thus, sure my brother was intimidated by those girls– they really were good, at least at reading belle lettre and much better than my brother at writing it. Sure, that’s a lesson to be early in my book Girls 101 for Dummies — Boys.But the intimidation was a disaster for no good reason: Likely nearly no successful sports writer ever learned anything about their craft in a college course in freshman honors creative writing English with a quite goofy prof, he was, and nearly all the class pretty girls!!! I’m all for the pretty girls, you understand!But, my brother knew much more about sports than I ever have.What I know about sports is essentially nothing! No exaggeration! Yesterday I looked up at Wikipedia what the basketball positions of guard, forward, and center were — I wasn’t sure. Then I saw point guard, power forward, etc — ah, learn something new daily?So for the Cavs and the Warriors, the only name on either team I recognize is Lebron James. What is special about his play I don’t know.Baseball and (US) football — much the same. Soccer? Much worse!YouTube has some video clips from some of the Cavs-Warriors series. Let’s see, the common video playing program WinDVD permits playing one frame at a time. So, YouTube or someone should convert some of those clips to a format that WinDVD could play. Then I would step through one frame at a time and try to understand just what the heck happened in that last 1.2 seconds it took for a team to inbound the ball and score — it’s a really fast game and, when I try to understand it, all just a blur to me.Some round ball expert should also give expert commentary, play by play, frame by frame, which player did what, why, etc.The detail and expertise you showed about the Cavs and Warriors might be valuable somewhere in business!