Kurtenbach: Why this Warriors title is better than the rest
Golden State Warriors have won 4 NBA championships in 8 years, but they
don't all feel the same
>BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – JUNE 16: Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry
(30) lifts up the MVP trophy as they Golden State Warriors celebrate
winning the NBA Championship at TD Garden in Boston, Mass., on Thursday,
June 16, 2022. The Golden State Warriors defeated the Boston Celtics
103-90. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
>BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – JUNE 16: Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry
(30) lifts up the MVP trophy as they Golden State Warriors celebrate
winning the NBA Championship at TD Garden in Boston, Mass., on Thursday,
June 16, 2022. The Golden State Warriors defeated the Boston Celtics
103-90. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
By DIETER KURTENBACH | dkurtenbach@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News
Group
PUBLISHED: June 27, 2022 at 1:38 p.m. | UPDATED: June 28, 2022 at 4:33 a.m.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2022/06/27/kurtenbach-why-this-warriors-title-is-better-than-the-rest/

This column was originally published June 20 in a special section
commemorating the Warriors’ NBA Finals victory.

The Warriors’ first title in 2015 was the sweetest.

It came as a surprise — even to the Warriors themselves — and ended
forty years of what was generally roundball ineptitude in the Bay.

But seven years later, even after an incredible span in which the
Warriors turned such success routine, this 2022 title — the fourth won
by the quartet of Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, and Steve
Kerr — stands alone as the Warriors’ best.

Yes, that 2015 title packed a punch, but there’s a deeper, richer taste
to this victory. This, friends, is one to savor.

Don’t forget that belief in this team was hard to find even as the
playoffs started. The Warriors limped into the postseason — literally,
in the case of Curry. They were a team that provided more questions than
answers.

Golden State had spent the previous two years crashing, burning, and
rebuilding. In 2019-2020, they had the worst record in the league, a
byproduct of a depleted, post-dynastic roster, Thompson’s season-long
absence due to a torn ACL, and Curry’s broken hand, which kept him out
for all but five games.

Then, last season, they lost both of their play-in tournament games and
missed the playoffs for the second year in a row.

Even when the Warriors came out strong this season, it was fair to
believe that the Dub Dynasty was dead.

But Green had one big question that he was happy to ask anytime he had
the chance: “Who is going to beat us?”

Green was keen to point out that when the Big Three — him, Curry and
Thompson — started every game of a playoff series, the Warriors had
never lost.

“Ever.”

How right he proved to be.

Thompson — who missed nearly 1,000 days with not one, but two
catastrophic leg injuries — returned to the floor in January. He rounded
into form late in the postseason, playing some of his best games.

>SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 17: The Golden State Warriors make a
triumphant return to San Francisco International Airport, Friday, June
17, 2022, with Draymond Green carrying the Larry O’Brien NBA
Championship Trophy off the plane ahead of Stephen Curry with his NBA
Finals MVP Trophy, and Klay Thompson. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)

Green might have lost a step or two, but his mind is as sharp as any in
the history of the sport, and in the big moments of the big games, that
intelligence was unmistakable on the floor.

And Curry? He was simply sensational the whole way through, winning his
first NBA Finals MVP in the process.

For those three and the irreplaceable Kerr, this fourth title is validation.

Their reputations were already unimpeachable here in the Bay. They will
have statues outside of Chase Center. Their jersey numbers will hang in
the rafters forever. They’ll all head to the Basketball Hall of Fame.

But this title declares that all who wished to undercut or underrate the
Warriors’ success were wrong.

They didn’t sneak up on the league this time. Nor did they “ruin” it by
bringing in one of the game’s greatest players as a free agent, as
they’d done with Kevin Durant after the first title.

The Warriors were, for the most part, a known entity in this new age of
NBA parity. They were one of the many teams that entered the postseason
with a good shot at winning the title.

And then they went out and beat everyone, straight-up.

A title is not won by only three men, of course. And that’s another
reason why this Warriors triumph is so rewarding.

This championship would have been impossible without the team’s culture
of accountability and improvement or the organization’s vision for the
future. It’s validation for both as well.

On one end of the spectrum, the Warriors were seen as too old to win a
title. The core had too many miles on the odometer and this roster’s
veteran minimum contracts weren’t exactly given to top-flight ring chasers.

On the other end, the Warriors were too young to win a title. Jonathan
Kuminga, Moses Moody, and even Jordan Poole were Not Ready For Prime
Time Players. James Wiseman — the one-time No. 2 overall draft pick and
the Warriors’ reward for their NBA-worst record in 2020 — didn’t even
play this season.

>RELATED ARTICLES
Warriors’ James Wiseman won’t play in California Classic, eyes chance
to return in Las Vegas
Stephen Curry tabbed as host of 2022 ESPYS
Warriors 2022 draft pick to miss Summer League with foot injury
Warriors set Summer League roster, highlighted by James Wiseman
NBA free agency: Evaluating all the Warriors’ contract situations

And then there was the middle class — the players in their mid-to-late
20s prime. But was Andrew Wiggins’ prime good enough? Were Kevon Looney
and Gary Payton II anything more than bit players on a fringe playoff team?

All three generations had their moments, and their struggles this
season, but they jelled in the playoffs, and, particularly, in the Finals.

Perhaps that was Kerr’s magic touch. Maybe it was a bit of luck, too.
Either way, it worked.And the cool part is there’s no telling how many
more times it can work in the years to come.So few expected this team to
be winning another title. What’s to say now that they can’t win a couple
more?

The second half of this dynastic run might just be getting started.

But whether this championship proves to be the start of a new run or the
end of the old one, this will be the most satisfying and rewarding
title, because it was the toughest one to win.