Basketball, Boy!

It's not entirely unexpected. After five consecutive trips to the NBA Finals and the long, post-season slogs that accompany them, the Golden State Warriors are breaking down. Ditto LeBron James, who after eight consecutive visits to the Finals played in the fewest games of his career in 2018/19.

For all intent and purposes, James' 239 playoff games have added three years to his career, meaning that to his body, next season will be his twentieth and not his seventeenth.

For several members of the Warriors, their seven post-season excursions have added about a season and-a-half to the wear and tear of regulation NBA seasons. And considering the intensity of playoff games, it could be argued that for James and the Warriors, an even greater toll has been extracted.

As a certified fanatic who drank in every minute of the championship-era Bulls available to him, I can attest to the price they paid, plainly evident in the third season of each of their threepeats. In contrast to the hyper-focused play of earlier seasons, both the 92/93 and 97/98 squads looked ragged and even sloppy at times. They coasted. Team statistics saw a decline across the board.

It was proof of how much harder it is to stay on top of the mountain than it is to climb it. The 57 and 62 victories those Bulls teams posted are a testament to the deep and amazing rosters cobbled together by the mostly-unappreciated Jerry Krause.

What I'm trying to say is that only boxers and interior linemen are permitted to entertain the notion that basketball is a non-contact sport.

If you're a Warriors' fan, you no doubt consider this a premature eulogy. It's not. Am I predicting a Toronto victory tonight? No. I am merely citing the enormous toll consecutive and prolonged post-seasons have taken on this team.

But they are proud—and experienced. There is no need to refer to them as the Golden State Worriers. And against a resilient but inexperienced team no doubt entertaining thoughts of hoisting a trophy in front of a jubilant home crowd, conditions couldn't be better for the Warriors to strike, sending the series back to Oakland.

It will be one helluva game.