That 2022 Warriors championship looking more like a fluke as time passes

[ChipotleWest]

Many teams have been rewarded for being healthy over the years, just look at the Clippers opponents in the previous playoffs.

[tsherkin]

2022 Boston was quite good. Tatum crapped himself in the Finals after playing quite well before that, and Steph absolutely rocked them, but that Boston team was the 7th best O, the 2nd best D, 1st in SRS, etc. They were taken 7 in the 2nd round and the ECF, so everyone knew they were vulnerable, but it was still a bit of a surprise when Golden State came out and did what they did...

But the Warriors were actually the best D in the league that year, and that D rocked Boston's offense more than Boston was able to impact the Warriors. Tatum also shriveled up in Game 7 while Jaylen Brown tried to keep them in it, but that 2nd quarter just tanked Boston and they again couldn't contain Steph.

That was a FUN series to watch.

[robbie84]

Proclaiming a team to be great based on a post all star break sample size is just ridiculous. Regular season doesn't mean all that much, especially when you're making conclusion based on such a small sample size.

That great Celtics team went 7 against an inefficient Giannis and bunch of bricklayers and did the same a series later against Butler and a bunch of bricklayers as well. Then you came up against a great shooting team and got exposed. Jordan freaking Poole was stunting on you guys FFS and you have the nerve to hype that team up while looking down on other teams.

The Celtics were #1 in SRS in '21-22. The Bucks were defending champs. The next season Miami got to the Finals. Just seems like you're minimizing Boston for some reason.

This guy doesn't care about the Curry discussion, he cares about ragging on the Celtics lol.

[dk1115]

That team probably got the luckiest in terms of having really valuable role players. Otto Porter and Gary Payton on really small contracts.

I thought by far the best team that year was Pheonix, but after that, the Warriors was likely the second best team (not by far, but in the pack type of thing)

[reddyplayerone]

Ok, and?

I don't see why anyone should care if the '22 Warriors were a bit flukey or whatever. They still won. Pretty sure their fans still enjoyed the run and are proud of that team like any other fanbase that gets to cheer on a champion.

As a Lakers fan, I couldn't possibly care less when people call the '20 championship a Mickey Mouse Championship. All I hear is, "My fave team couldn't even win a Mickey Mouse Championship."

Sounds like a skill issue.

[Wolfgang630]

They got lucky with all the injuries. Must be nice facing Denver who was missing Murray and MPJ

[Patsfan1081]

They got lucky with all the injuries. Must be nice facing Denver who was missing Murray and MPJ

I hate complaining about injuries, especially when said players are injury prone. A player’s conditioning, ability to play through nagging injuries, and preparation are major contributing factors in being great.

[Impuniti]

They got lucky with all the injuries. Must be nice facing Denver who was missing Murray and MPJ

Must also be nice for Toronto to play the Warriors with an injured KD, Klay/Iggy/Looney injured at different points in the series. Then Bogut/Steph/Iggy in 2016. Injuries happen to every team.

Winners win, and losers as the Knicks are known for, complain.

[Impuniti]

That team probably got the luckiest in terms of having really valuable role players. Otto Porter and Gary Payton on really small contracts.

I thought by far the best team that year was Pheonix, but after that, the Warriors was likely the second best team (not by far, but in the pack type of thing)

This is where the actual fortune came from. Otto somehow being healthy enough and GPII coming back from his injury for the Finals which he was vital in, both massive x-factors that played a huge role in connecting the rest of the team. Elite on ball defense from the perimeter with a guy that makes winning plays, and another that is an intangible monster on top of being one of the best pure shooters in the league that can play the 4/5. Even though I've been giving Myers a lot of deserved flak, he really knocked it out of the park there.

[EmpireFalls]

Name a champion from the past 15 years who the 2022 Warriors would beat. I’m drawing blanks.

[Hello Brooklyn]

Steph went through an extremely tough Celtics team with home court and an all time great defense.

How is that lucky?

Since then, Klay has fallen off, Poole has fallen off a cliff, and Wiggins has fallen off.

Its not hard to see why they have struggled.

[inquisitive]

If anything, that is the one championship that they should really get credit for. No KD joining the team and no Irving,Klove injuries excuse.

[MugzZo]

A lot of those championships in the COVID era seem to rely on more luck than normal. Maybe the Nuggets can legitimize their championship this season.

Covid wasn't a problem last year. Horrible take.

Sent from my SM-F936U using RealGM mobile app

[MrBigShot]

They were a great team but not a chance they get passed the nuggets if healthy. Jokic utterly destroyed them that year...he just had no help to speak of. One of the weakest champions in the last 10 years for sure.

But ultimately there are injuries every year and they earned their championship.

[Ssj16]

The good ole "let's discredit a championship from yesteryear" thread. My absolute favorite...not.

[Patsfan1081]

I’m hoping this is some form of recency bias if you think in any way that was a goat finals performance. Literally just the year prior or after, both Giannis and Jokic had better showings, context or stats wise. Perhaps it isn’t even recency bias then.

You really think Giannis 21' finals vs Devon Booker's Suns was better than Curry's 22' finals vs the Celtics?
C'mon man? Curry had a tougher opponent, and did it from the 3 point line. Giannis did it being 7 foot tall and dunking/lay upping his way with sheer size.

Jokic's performance is certainly up there, but it was against a depleted Heat team with Jimmy Butler clearly not himself.

What you are defining as greatness is different to me I guess. To me, Steph Curry carrying that Warriors team with his shooting is a far greater feat than Giannis or Shaq bullying their way in the paint to 35ppg. I respect Shaq and Giannis' as All time great players, but no one in NBA history has won their team a championship with pure skill and shooting ability at Steph's size like he did in 22'.

How in the world are you using your Celtics to bring down that Suns team? Don't get me wrong, the Suns weren't even contenders with everyone healthy but neither were the Celtics.

You guys get clowned by Butler almost every season, lost last season even when he had a down series and have been pretenders for pretty much a decade. Can't believe one fluke Finals run where you guys predictably **** your pants has you downplaying other teams. You guys are actually a more hilarious team than the DeRozan-Lowry led Raptors and you're somehow using your team as a benchmark for greatness.

But I guess Tatum turning into Harrison Barnes during the Finals goes to show just how great Curry is.

Since Tatum’s rookie season he’s been leading his team to the conference finals, finals, ect….mostly during his rookie contract yet fans want to label him a chocker and everything else for losing in his and basically the whole teams first finals appearance vs a dynasty. I don’t see Banchero or most other young all stars doing this. And how is it a fluke finals run when they were going deep in the previous years heading up to it? Or how is going to seven games getting clowned or losing two of three series count as “almost every season.” Penny and Shaq had even less success and got swept in their only finals appearance. I wonder what you’d call them.

[Accurim]

OP has only one post. he trolling.

no rings are easy or flukes, they are all insanely hard. downplaying a ring is just lame.

its pretty normal to win 1 ring and not come close for another 10-20 years.

[Marrrcuss]

They got lucky with all the injuries. Must be nice facing Denver who was missing Murray and MPJ

Must also be nice for Toronto to play the Warriors with an injured KD, Klay/Iggy/Looney injured at different points in the series. Then Bogut/Steph/Iggy in 2016. Injuries happen to every team.

Winners win, and losers as the Knicks are known for, complain.

See, thats the thing, u had to reference 2 different years....and even threw in that bullshyt steph injury that only steph stans recognize.

In JUST 2022, you had:

* THJ for dallas who was their second leading scorer for the dallas series
*Murray AND MPJ out for Denver
*Ja Morant go out in a close Memphis series
*Jason Tatum with an injured wrist

[Homer38]

Steph went through an extremely tough Celtics team with home court and an all time great defense.

How is that lucky?

Since then, Klay has fallen off, Poole has fallen off a cliff, and Wiggins has fallen off.

Its not hard to see why they have struggled.

The warriors had the homecourt vs celtics...You are still right for the rest and even if it was a fluke they still won the title