The "Luck" of the Warrior
Photo: Hoops Habit
Well here we are once again looking at a Warriors vs Cavs NBA Finals for the fourth consecutive year just as everyone had predicted before the season. Once again, the Warriors found themselves getting a little bit of help from the injury bug. Over the years, there is no doubt that the Warriors have had plenty of help due to opponents getting hurt and the warriors not having to face some of those teams better players.
Lucky or fortunate? There is no denying the greatness of the warriors. Any team with four all stars in the starting lineup will be tough to beat no matter what. They had 73 wins and then the following year added Kevin Durant who is the second best player in the game. But lets face it every year they pursued the NBA finals they were lucky in the fact that they didn't have to play certain players.
In 2015, of all their opponents they didn't have to play any team that had their starting point guard. In the first round against the pelicans Jrue Holiday was out, Mike Conley and Tony Allen were both out in the second round, Patrick Beverley was out in the WCF and in the NBA finals both Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love were both injured (series still went 6 games).
In 2017, they played the Trail Blazers in the first round without Nurkic, the Jazz without Rudy Gobert and George Hill, and the Spurs without all star Kawhi Leonard. Once again they breeze through the west only losing one game the entire postseason with a little help from injuries.
In 2018, in the second round against the pelicans they played them without Boogie Cousins and in the western conference finals they fell down 2-3 to the Houston Rockets, however, they were bailed out when Chris Paul went down with a hamstring injury. Paul was the best player for the rockets during this series and at times looked like the best player on the floor with how well he was playing. Once he went down with the injury, the rockets looked like a totally different team and lost the series in 7 games.
There has been a trail of injuries that have followed the opponents of the warriors. I'm not saying they wouldn't win those series anyway, with the exception of the 2015 finals, I believe if Kyrie and Kevin Love both play they win that series, but it certainly helps. They have great players and a great system but as a fan of the sport you can't look past the fact that they have consistently been bailed out due to injuries. This is the best team that I have ever seen but also one of the luckiest teams in the league. If it weren't for injuries to their opponents and their team consistently staying healthy for the most part who knows if they would have had the same successes that they have right now.
