There have been so many great NBA dynasties in the history of the National Basketball Association.
The early 2000’s Los Angeles Lakers led by Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant, the 1960’s Boston Celtics led by Bill Russell, the 1980’s “Showtime” Lakers with Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and who could forget arguably the best dynasty – the 1990’s Chicago Bulls – winning back-to-back-to-back twice in that era?
But this current NBA dynasty just gave up the biggest lead in playoff history.
Who is the greatest starting five of all time?
Could it be the 1986 Lakers that included Magic Johnson, James Worthy, Byron Scott and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar?
How about the 1960’s Boston Celtics lineup that included Bill Russell and Bob Cousy where they won eleven championships in that era?
You can’t forget about the early 2000’s Lakers, which included Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, Derek Fisher, Rick Fox and Horace Grant.
But where do the current Golden State Warriors fall in this ranking?
In the starting five you’ve got the splash brothers – two-time MVP and greatest shooter of all time Steph Curry and one of the best perimeter defenders Klay Thompson who also happens to be a great shooter – in the back court.
Then you have two-time defensive player of the year Draymond Green who may be undersized for his position but defends as if he’s 7-feet tall. And at small forward is MVP and four-time scoring title champ Kevin Durant who is also a twice-consecutive Finals MVP.
But don’t forget about big man Demarcus “Boogie” Cousins who is undeniably one of the best big men in the league (unfortunately he tore his quad on Monday night and is out for the season).
Considering this starting five objectively, it’s hard to argue that this Golden State Warriors (with Cousins) isn’t the greatest five of all time.
But individual NBA games are sometimes unpredictable.
And this great starting five blew the biggest lead in playoff history to the eighth seed, the Los Angeles Clippers.
The Warriors got clipped in the 2nd half on Monday night and at one point in the 3rd quarter the Clippers had a 0.01% probability of winning the game.
It wasn’t fatigue from the Warriors that let the Clippers back into the game. It was sloppy, cocky basketball entering into the 3rd quarter because the Clippers went on a 72-37 run to close out the game.
To be fair, they did lose one of the league’s premiere rim protectors, Cousins, sometime in the first quarter, but the Warriors blew the Clippers out anyway even after he went out.
Curry got sloppy. He wasn’t hitting shots and he turned the ball over entirely too much.
But we’ll probably never know what could’ve been with this Warriors team given that Cousins is it for the season. The All-star only signed a one-year contract so not only is his future up in the air, but rumor has it that Kevin Durant will go somewhere else in the offseason.
