Here is The Thing GS Fans, You Already Lost

[SilkkTheShocker]

LeBron already got his legacy win, and 16 Cavs' finals win will be considered one of the most historical events ever to take place in NBA history. Anything else for LeBron is gravy. He already cemented himself as a top 5 player, and totally took any weight away from you *15 title. Because it's obvious Cleveland would have won if Irving didn't go out. At this point all the pressure is on you guys. No legitimate titles, choking MVP, and signed a top 3 player. It's going to take a lot to get that choking image off of you in the public eye. Good luck

[ScalsFan21]

Eh.. true, dedicated Warriors fans can still be winners from this if they go chokeless for the rest of the time this core is together.

The people I feel sorry for are the LeBron haters specifically, because it's only downhill from here for them and yes... nothing the Warriors or anyone else does in the coming years will erase the savagery that the beast inflicted on them.

[warriorfan]

Thing is, you have often asked us Bransvestites to equate:

- 2 (and change) missed games from Bogut
- 1 missed game from Draymond Green
- 1.5 hobbled Iggy games (looked fine in G7)
- Curry's injuries which seemed to hinder his play, but was still healthy enough to take the court, play his normal allotment of minutes, and draw plenty of defensive focus to at least keep the Curry Effect in full swing

... to

- 5 missed games from Kyrie Irving, got injured before GS officially secured G1 and played through nagging injuries in that game
- 6 missed games from Kevin Love, forcing a shortened rotation that was ultimately worn down

The most watered down version of the 4 teams in question throughout the course of the two finals series was definitely 2015 CLE. Injuries happen and all things considered if both teams are fully healthy, it's very possibly still 1-1 in the Finals anyway, but that doesn't mean the two situations cancel one another out entirely.

Kyrie was a huge loss for Cleveland in 2015. However Kevin Love missing in 2015 was not as big of a hindrance as you are portraying.

If you remember, while both teams were at full strength, Cleveland got blown out twice in a row in games 1 and 2. The first turn of the tide was in game 3 where Cleveland secured their first win, without Kevin Love playing a single minute (Game 3 of the 2016 Finals)

At the end of the 2016 Finals, Kevin Love averaged only 8 points a game on 47% True Shooting (Statistics of the 2016 Finals). And these numbers were also boosted due to the fact that Draymond Green and Andrew Bogut were out of commission due to suspension and injury.

Basketball is a game of matchups and Kevin Love has proven himself to not be effective against the matchups that a healthy Golden State team produces.

So in my opinion due to the ineffectiveness of Kevin Love against Golden State due to matchup problems, Golden State of 2016 was more depleted than the Cleveland team of 2015. (Golden State's best player was compromised. Golden State's best defender missed a crucial close out game. Golden State's rim protector missed 1 and a half games. Golden State's best perimeter defender and previous year's FMVP was extremely disabled for at least one game, in my opinion two.)

The Warriors closing the deal could still have conceivably happened despite the injuries they faced. You know they had enough to finish off a 3-1 lead.

Honestly I knew they didn't have enough. After game 6 where Bogut went out and Andre could hardly move and was clutching his lower back after every whistle I knew things were just about done. As much as people like to paint the picture of Golden State being a bottomless pit of depth, there wasn't any serviceable big man to soak up minutes at the 5 and to make things worse our best Power Forward is 6'5''. By the time game 7 rolled around it was obvious there wasn't enough size and skill left on Golden State's roster to compete with the Cavaliers for 48 minutes.

Cleveland's 2016 win wasn't some miracle, it was inevitable after the suspension and subsequent injuries the Warrior team experienced.

[bigkingsfan]

Lebron could easily be 1/7. He's playing with house money at this point.

[DirkNowitzki41]

Lebron could easily be 1/7. He's playing with house money at this point.

LeBron could have easily been 6/7 too. Your point? Retard.

[bigkingsfan]

LeBron could have easily been 6/7 too. Your point? Retard.

And the Kings could easily been 82-0.

[K Xerxes]

So in my opinion due to the ineffectiveness of Kevin Love against Golden State due to matchup problems, Golden State of 2016 was more depleted than the Cleveland team of 2015. (Golden State's best player was compromised. Golden State's best defender missed a crucial close out game. Golden State's rim protector missed 1 and a half games. Golden State's best perimeter defender and previous year's FMVP was extremely disabled for at least one game, in my opinion two.

Bogut was playing 12mpg.

Draymond missed a crucial close out game due to his own stupid behaviour, and played in the two subsequent crucial close out game losses.

Curry and Iggy played basically the whole finals. No excuses. Also Cavs fans could argue that Kyrie was hurt in game 6 and 7 with his foot injury if we're going to start fabricating severe injuries.

Kyrie alone actually being unable to play most of the finals (except for most of the first game) is a far bigger deal.

To suggest 2016 GSW were more depleted than 2015 Cavs is frankly untenable.

[NBAGOAT]

no one's going view the Warriors as chokers if they win 4 peat for example. Other teams have recovered from worse.

[G0ATbe]

He's most likely going to retire with the most finals losses in NBA history....

He just came off probably his biggest asterisk in his career beating an injury riddled team and the unbelievable suspension over a phantom low blow causing the comeback...

He's only 2.5*/7...

But yup agreed, LeShit stain family stay winnin

[Spurs m8]

Biggest chokers and most hated.

Fake nice guys.

Gonna deserve all the failure they get and it could even top watching them blow that 3-1 lead.

[SouBeachTalents]

no one's going view the Warriors as chokers if they win 4 peat for example. Other teams have recovered from worse.

It'll still be a giant black mark on their resume, just like 2011 for LeBron, Super Bowl 42 for the Pats, 2004 ALCS for the Yankees etc.

[SouBeachTalents]

He's most likely going to retire with the most finals losses in NBA history....

He just came off probably his biggest asterisk in his career beating an injury riddled team and the unbelievable suspension over a phantom low blow causing the comeback...

He's only 2.5*/7...

But yup agreed, LeShit stain family stay winnin

He's also gonna retire with more MVP's/FMVP's/better stats than Kobe, stay mad

[ScalsFan21]

WF - I'll respond to that now, I was too tired to reply when I saw that the other day.

Love is DEFINITELY overrated and is a VERY distant 6th best player between the two teams, no argument from me about that. But, he was still a key loss because while the Cavs had the good fortune of playing in a weak East, they were still depleted enough to nearly be pushed to the brink in the 2nd round. With Love getting hurt in a meaningless 1st round and Irving dealing with injuries through the entire playoffs, the rotation had really been shortened to LeBron + scraps for the last three rounds.

If they grant David Blatt's idiot timeout in Game 4 vs. CHI, it's very plausible that the Bulls are able to win that series. Somehow I doubt LeBron would have let it happen, but down 3-1 is down 3-1 any way you look at it. He would have had his work cut out for him in a big way.

Even LeBron had been dealing with some nagging injuries, and had to carry such a load. Literally, the 2015 Cavs were such a shell of what they could be that they were pushed to the brink by a scoring-challenged, mediocre, built-for-the-regular-season Bulls team. By the time the finals rolled around and Kyrie went down for good, it was as if the Cavs only had 6 or 7 guys they could really trust to even be on the court.

I think most of what you said is fair: Iggy's movement was severely limited for about a game and a half, give or take. The loss of Bogut limited the flexibility of GSW. But coming back from 3-1 down against a team like the Dubs requires both skill and luck, and the Cavs definitely got some breaks. But winning three in a row even against what was left of GS was something special.

In Game 7, Iggy looked perfectly healthy. Draymond was back and took one of the biggest alpha dumps we've ever seen, which more than makes up for whatever "hesitancy" people want to say he had in Game 6 to play like himself in a game that Cleveland grabbed by the throat early on. Game 7 at home, there really was no good excuse for that third consecutive loss. G5 could kind of be hand-waved away with Dray/Bogut missing 6/8 combined quarters and Kyrie playing out of his mind, Game 6 can sort of be chalked up as just a road loss, Cavs not wanting to go out at home, Iggy hobbled. But Game 7? You guys had enough, especially after what Draymond did.

Guys like Barnes and Klay having MISERABLE, miserable games can't even be remotely chalked up to injury with the looks they were getting, and the fact is if either one plays like himself in those last few games, we could be talking about a different outcome. If every player on Golden State played up to the standards we had come to expect from them, I think you could've grabbed one of three games even despite the injuries.

[G0ATbe]

He's also gonna retire with more MVP's/FMVP's/better stats than Kobe, stay mad

5 > 2.5*

[ScalsFan21]

5 > 2.5*

Stalker already deducted '02* from the Mamba's legacy.