By: Michael Piccoli
With the addition of Kevin Durant, the Golden State Warriors are NBA champions once again.
After last year’s crushing loss to Cleveland, Golden State answered with a dominating 4-1 series victory. The NBA Finals MVP, Durant averaged 35.2 points in the series and seemed to be unstoppable at times, while Stephen Curry averaged 26.8 points.
LeBron James became the first player to average a triple-double in NBA finals history; however, the Warriors were simply too much to handle as they scored more than 110 points in every game, averaging 121.6 points a game.
This was the third straight time that these two teams met in the Finals and it looks like they will meet again next year.
James has appeared in eight NBA Finals series during his career. Since 2011, James made seven straight NBA Finals matches.
The NBA has never been a league of parity with regard to competition. Since 2000, there have only been eight teams that have won a championship. The Los Angeles Lakers won five, the San Antonio Spurs won four and the Miami Heat won three.
While it may be nice for the fans of these teams, the competition around the NBA has suffered.
I think the NBA is better when there’s parity, when more than 2 teams have a shot at winning. Barring injury, will we not see Part 4 in ’18?
— Marc Lamont Hill (@marclamonthill) June 13, 2017
If Golden State and Cleveland continue to clash for the Larry O’Brien Championship trophy in the future, the relevance of the regular season may diminish.
The remaining teams that compete during the regular season and playoffs are almost forgotten about because of this rivalry.