This season will no doubt go down as historic for two more reasons. This NBA season will be remembered as the year the Golden State Warriors broke the Chicago Bulls’ record of 72-10 (wins-losses) with an impressive record of 73-9. It will also be the year remembered as the year the Cleveland Cavaliers won their first championship for the franchise, and thus ended a 52-year drought of Cleveland sports teams not winning championships.
Both of these landmarks in the basketball world are significant but also raise questions for basketball fans everywhere. Perhaps the most prominent: Are the 2015-16 Warriors the greatest basketball team of all time? To answer this question, it’s important to dig deeper than Game 7 of the finals to understand both teams.
The Golden State Warriors come into the 2015-16 season fresh off a championship victory against the Cleveland Cavaliers, bringing home the franchise’s first title since 1975. Starting off their season with an impressive 24-0 run, the Warriors were eventually defeated by the Milwaukee Bucks at Milwaukee. As the season went on, the Golden State Warriors had become the first NBA team to finish the regular season without losing to the same team twice or taking a back-to-back loss. With the 2014-15 Most Valuable Player Stephen Curry leading the team, he helped the team finish the season with 73 wins and nine losses and became the NBA’s first unanimous MVP. With two consecutive MVP awards and a record-breaking regular season, a championship win in the postseason would have brought the franchise to win two back-to-back titles. The only thing to stand in the way of a legendary finish for the Warriors was the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Head of the Cleveland Cavaliers is none other than “The King” LeBron James. Before the most recent season, James had been a two-time NBA champion, and going head to head with the Warriors in the Finals would mark a rematch of the 2014-15 NBA finals as well as James’ sixth straight finals appearance. James had left the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2010 to join the Miami Heat in pursuit of competing for championships. In doing so, he was successful in not only making the finals all four years he was there but also winning two back-to-back championships in 2012 and 2013. James had made the decision to come home to rejoin the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2014-15 season. During this season the Cavaliers fell to the Warriors in Game 6 of the finals but in this most recent season Cleveland overcame a 3-1 deficit bringing back the series to a Game 7 in Golden State that would either bring home a back-to-back win for the Warriors or the first title for Cleveland.
Only three teams in NBA history have brought a series to Game 7 in the finals after being down 3-1. The Cavaliers are not only one of those three teams but are the first and only team to ever come back in the series and win the whole thing. While the Warriors are a great team and beat the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls record by one game, the fact remains that during the Bulls’ season not only did they go 72-10 but they also brought home the championship during the playoffs. Golden State might have broken the record for wins during the regular season but failed to cap it off with a title. As great as their accomplishments were this season, they will more than likely be overshadowed by fans remembering this season as the year the Cavaliers won their first title. This year’s postseason just goes to show that “you aren’t a thing without the ring.”
— Nick Alexander
Four Crossed Logs intern
professional communication major
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