The last few days, KNBR has been repeatedly replaying Tim
Roye's radio call from the end of game 5 of the Western Conference Finals: “The
phrase you thought you would not hear in your lifetime: the Golden State
Warriors are going to the NBA Finals!” From my perspective, it is about as
accurate a description of the circumstances as possible; while I have been a
loyal Warriors fan essentially all my life, I absolutely never thought they
would ever accomplish this much. This isn't to say that I didn't believe in my
team, but more that I had become so accustomed to failure that my expectations
were low enough to be virtually nonexistant.
I'll point to other writers to offer detailed
explanations of the franchise's failings[1] or explain
what the team and its success means to the changing
dynamics within the Bay Area[2] or analyze
the Finals matchup between the Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers, and
instead just offer an explanation of my own personal experience as a fan of
this long moribund franchise, hopefully shedding some light on what other
Warriors fans are experiencing in this moment of unanticipated success.
The NBA playoffs have a somewhat anomalous[3] format
compared to other American professional sports leagues. More than half the
teams in the league make the playoffs every year and—due to the number of
rounds, length of the series, and necessary rest and travel days between
games—the entire postseason lasts an exceedingly long two months. Between age
nine and age 22, I watched as my favorite NBA team, the Golden State Warriors,
failed to make the playoffs for 12 straight seasons. As such, one of my annual
rituals was to find a rooting interest in other teams come playoff-time—usually
determined by which teams had the most prominent former Warriors,[4] former Cal
players,[5] or just
anyone with some tie to the Bay Area.[6] But my team
was never involved in any meaningful way, other than the brief distraction and
disappointment of the annual draft lottery.
To be honest, by the time the playoff drought reached only a
handful of years, I stopped even having any hope of the Warriors participating
in the playoffs or having any role in the NBA other than as a doormat. I
continued to watch their games because I loved basketball and remained loyal to
my team, but I eventually developed such low-expectations of my team that I
never really thought they would be good. I never harbored any hope for a
championship or even so much as a sustained playoff run because it just seemed
impossible.[7]
Instead, I learned to appreciate small victories and other
minor positive attributes, such as the
night former Cal great Sean Lampley scored 14 points during his brief
tenure with the team or longtime backup center Adonal
Foyle's reputation as being one of the smartest and most cultured NBA players.
And I was always able to enjoy the excellent
broadcasting of Jim Barnett and take solace in the Warriors'
fans' reputation as the best fans in the NBA. When the lovably
unconventional We Believe team finally made the playoffs and defeated the
heavily favored Dallas Mavericks in the first round in 2007, I assumed that
would be the franchise's greatest moment in my lifetime.[8] But I never
expected a championship.
While some of this pessimism may have been the result of the
fatalism endemic to fans of incompetent and unsuccessful franchises, much of it
owed to the
dark presence that was owner Chris Cohan. Indeed, it seemed impossible that
the Warriors would be successful as long as Cohan owned the team and it seemed
unlikely that Cohan would ever sell the team.[9] However,
when Cohan sold the team to Joe Lacob and Peter Guber in 2010, my expectations
for my favorite basketball team changed. While I didn't necessarily believe
that they would win a championship, I harbored hope that they would eventually
become a normal, competent franchise that occasionally made the playoffs and
contended for something resembling a championship run.
While Lacob made some statements early in his ownership
tenure that bothered me[10] and made
decisions that I didn't necessarily favor,[11] I was
willing to give him a significant benefit of the doubt simply because he wasn't
Cohan. Of course, not every other Warriors fan felt the same way. My dad and I
were actually at the game where Warriors fans mercilessly
booed him during a halftime ceremony honoring Chris Mullin. We were among
the only people in our section—and likely, among very few in the whole
arena—who were not booing.[12] We didn't
boo,[13] in part,
because we didn't want to detract from Mullin's moment,[14] but also
because our expectations were so low that Lacob would have had to repeatedly
prove his incompetence to earn our ire—something he had not had nearly enough
time to do at that point.
Indeed, the success of the last few seasons have validated
Lacob's decisions as owner and, perhaps, set up new expectations of success
for the fanbase. But I keep thinking about all those years where I started the
season without even the slightest hope of success, all those years where I had
to find a team to halfheartedly follow during the playoffs, all those years
where I watched other teams and felt jealous of their competent front offices
and genuine superstars. Now the Warriors have a great front office and a great,
fun team lead by the league's MVP.[15] The
franchise that was so terrible for so many years that I couldn't even so much
as hope for a championship is now only four wins away from a title.
I don't even know how to express how I feel. It is some
mixture of catharsis, bewilderment, excitement, and some unnamable, intangible
emotion. All throughout the playoffs, I have texted my dad about the team's
run.[16] Lately, I
have run out of things to say about the team and have taken to just texting,
“This is amazing!” and “This is unbelievable!” I know that there is still a
potentially difficult Finals against LeBron James,[17] the best
player in the world, but this season has already far exceeded my wildest
expectations.[18]
I don't know, man, this is unbelievable.
[1] When I first read Simmons's article three
years ago, I had to stop reading at multiple points because I got so angry and
had to take short walks to calm myself. I think that is an indication of how
the article does an excellent job of summarizing the various demons haunting
the Warriors' fanbase.
[2] Grant Brisbee is my favorite baseball writer
and does a fairly good job with this article, which is a bit outside his usual
purview. But, as Uncanny Valley's own Alexis Faulkner pointed out, his
understanding of the supposedly new hipness of the East Bay is problematic. For
example, Oakland has, for decades, been a haven for artists, musicians, and
other creative individuals but non-East Bay residents such as Brisbee have only
recently taken notice.
[3] The NHL actually has a virtually identical
playoff setup to the NBA. But I am not a hockey fan so I have nothing further
to say on the subject.
[4] e.g. Tim Hardaway's Miami Heat and Chris
Mullin's Indiana Pacers.
[5] e.g. Kevin Johnson's Phoenix Suns or any of
Jason Kidd's playoff teams.
[6] e.g. Gary Payton's Seattle Supersonics or
(later on) Leon Powe's Boston Celtics—but not Brian Shaw's Los Angeles Lakers.
[7] This stood in marked contrast to my deep
psychological and emotional need for the Giants to win a World Series.
[8] Sure enough, the next season's team set a
record for most victories without making the playoffs and the franchise
stumbled back into irrelevance.
[9] Ironically, a significant portion of the
perception of Cohan's neverending ownership of the franchise came from the fact
that the fans' vaunted loyalty made the team profitable despite its lack of
on-court success.
[10] I was most bothered by his decision to move
the team to San Francisco.
[11] I was borderline apoplectic at his hiring of
Mark Jackson.
[12] My dad was so embarrassed by the whole
incident that he actually emailed Lacob an apology on behalf of Warriors fans.
I doubt that Lacob actually read the email, though.
[13] Anybody who knows me knows that I usually love
to boo at any opportunity.
[14] We also didn't boo because we supported the
recently competed Monta Ellis for Andrew Bogut trade that was the source of
much of the fans' ire.
[15] Since this article has mostly focused on the
past, I haven't really given the current team anywhere near the attention that
they deserve, particularly Steph Curry. Let me just say that Curry is now my
favorite basketball player ever (it is strange to have a favorite player who is
younger than I am) and one of the most exciting athletes that I have ever
watched in any sport.
[16] I've had to text him because I recently moved
across the country to Brooklyn.
[17] My Finals pick: Warriors in 5.
[18] I'm going to note that I realized that there
was something potentially great about this team very early in the season and
actually predicted in November—to my dad and my roommate—that they would win
the title. But there is a difference between knowing that a team can win a
title and actually being this close to it happening.
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