'Kawhi ended the Warriors dynasty'

Soulcatcher33 · Post #141 » by **Soulcatcher33** » Fri Jul 12, 2019 4:18 am

Yeah, that's stupid. Injuries and Durant (as he wasn't re-signing) ended the Warriors dynasty. Kawhi has a roleplayer ring with the Spurs and a ring with the raptors as the man vs a team that was devastated by injuries that the Raptors would never have beaten if healthy. Kawhi is pretty overrated in history right now with all this talk about "he could win a ring three separate teams" nonsense when his first two rings aren't even that impressive. (especially the first)

michaelm · Post #142 » by **michaelm** » Fri Jul 12, 2019 5:05 am

ThaRegul8r wrote:
JordansBulls wrote:
killmongrel wrote:So Zaza ended the Spurs dynasty?

No he ended the Spurs winning it all in 2017.

I find this really bizarre. You're not the first poster on the internet to have expressed this sentiment, but that doesn't make it any less bizarre. Now, everything I'm about to write I've already written before, so I realize this isn't going to change anything, as people aren't really interested in facts, but nevertheless...

In the 2016 Western Conference Semifinals against OKC, the Spurs won Game 1, 124-92. A 32-point margin of victory. After that game, some sports talk radio hosts warned people about the 1985 NBA Finals between the Celtics and Lakers, in which Boston won Game 1 148-114, a 34-point margin of victory, in what was called "The Memorial Day Massacre," but lost the series in six games. History repeated itself, as the Spurs ultimately lost the series in six games.

In the 2017 Western Conference Semifinals against the Rockets, the Spurs lost Game 1, 126-99. A 27-point margin of defeat. I remember posting this tweet:

Read on Twitter

The Spurs ultimately won the series in six games, winning Game 6, 114-75. I also posted this tweet:

Read on Twitter

And then in the Western Conference Finals against the Warriors, the Spurs led 62-42 at the half, Zaza Pachulia puts his foot under Kawhi's and he comes down on it with no space to land, he goes out with 7:53 left in the third, Spurs lose 113-111.

Everyone's pretty much in agreement that the Spurs would have won the game if not for Zaza, but as time has passed, somehow "the Spurs would have won the game" morphed into "the Spurs would have won the series." Which makes no sense whatsoever.

We literally saw the Spurs win Game 1 in a blowout the previous year and lose the series, saw the Spurs lose Game 1 in a blowout and win... the previous series, but despite this, people have somehow extrapolated how the series "would have" turned out after one game. Illustrating that people are utterly incapable of learning from history even when it's recent history. (Since they also thought the Spurs were going to beat the Thunder in '16 and lose to the Rockets in '17 after the respective opening games.)

The Spurs likely would have won Game 1. That's all that can be taken away from that. They won the first game of a playoff series in a blowout and lost the series, and they lost the first game of a playoff series in a blowout and won the series.

No. One. Knows. Who. Would. Have. Won. If. Kawhi. Leonard. Wasn't. Injured.

But as I acknowledged at the beginning, this isn't the first time I've said this and it didn't do any good then, so I don't expect it to now. But it irritates me in general when people leap to conclusions from insufficient evidence.

I have always thought the same, and this year’s play-offs further demonstrated in multiple series that calling a play-off series on the basis of a single game is very often premature. Not to mention that GSW came back from a similar deficit in a regular season game with Kawhi playing the whole game.

Whatever anyone thinks of Durant’s move, rather put into perspective imo by multiple peers of his actually forcing their way out of signed contracts rather than making an FA move having eminently qualified for that status, the 2017 GSW team with a fully healthy Durant and Curry, and before the storm of criticism soured Durant, was pretty much as invincible as a basketball team can be.

Mulhollanddrive · Post #143 » by **Mulhollanddrive** » Fri Jul 12, 2019 5:12 am

If you can start wars based off false information you can write articles about pretend games.

DusterBuster · Post #144 » by **DusterBuster** » Fri Jul 12, 2019 5:13 am

Father Time ended that Dynasty. Still undefeated.

Knicks7Tape · Post #145 » by **Knicks7Tape** » Fri Jul 12, 2019 5:30 am

The roster has been retooled and they were winning before KD got there so it's a bit premature to say it is over. GS might not be a 1 seed this year but their core is going to be most likely healthy come playoff time.

jason bourne · Post #146 » by **jason bourne** » Fri Jul 12, 2019 5:39 am

KD got hurt. If he didn't get hurt, then Ws win another ship. KD leaves for the Nets and that ended the dynasty. To Kawhi's credit, he helped the Raptors win a ship and if he helps the Clippers and PG13 to win a ship next season, then he's elevated to top player status although it's sickening how he did it.

whocurrz · Post #147 » by **whocurrz** » Fri Jul 12, 2019 6:30 am

I mean there were injuries which are part of the game so I’ll leave that alone but THE RAPTORS not Kawhi beat the Warriors. He was good in the series and his epic 3rd quarter in game 4 really put the series into critical condition for the Warriors. But nothing amazing. The Raps had a great defense and scoring all over. Van Vleet hit huge shots, Siakam, Gasol, Lowry and Green were all great. It was a team effort on both ends

Tomazan · Post #148 » by **Tomazan** » Fri Jul 12, 2019 6:31 am

Zaza Pachulia ended SPURS dinasty

clyde21 · Post #149 » by **clyde21** » Fri Jul 12, 2019 6:44 am

Tomazan wrote:Zaza Pachulia ended SPURS dinasty

sfernald · Post #150 » by **sfernald** » Fri Jul 12, 2019 6:50 am

Here’s the thing I wanna say about Kahwi to Rapts fans. I know in my heart every single Rapts fans and there are a **** lot of em on realgm, would do the kawhi thing again 100 times out of 100 for the championship they got. Period.

Buzzard · Post #151 » by **Buzzard** » Fri Jul 12, 2019 6:57 am

Injuries did the Warriors in. Four stars all in or near their thirties, one or more were bound to break down sooner or later. Age does not make things better athletically speaking. I think LeBron would agree even if he won't do so publicly.

Nutty Nats Fan · Post #152 » by **Nutty Nats Fan** » Fri Jul 12, 2019 9:10 am

infinite11285 wrote:Not only that OP, ESPN has begun pushing a, “Kawhi has ended the decades long Lakers dominance in LA by signing with the Clippers” narrative as well. They even went as far to say that LA is now a Clippers town.

Kawhi “Dynasty Killer” Leonard:

Miami
San Antonio
Warriors
Lakers

You forgot Toronto.

Would have been a dynasty if he stayed, but he killed it too instead.

Jazztop · Post #153 » by **Jazztop** » Fri Jul 12, 2019 10:52 am

JellosJigglin wrote:The Warriors will be right back in the championship mix next season when Klay gets back. They'd be the champs right now if Klay never got hurt.

But yet they lost 3 out of the 5 games Klay played.

Funny how that whole pesky math thing can interfere with our salty narratives

TheWhiteMamba · Post #154 » by **TheWhiteMamba** » Fri Jul 12, 2019 11:07 am

clyde21 wrote:why the **** is the media trying to hard to push to garbage narrative?

The path of destruction Kawhi has rendered since leaving the Spurs is a testament to his talent—and power. He ended the Warriors dynasty as we know it, folded the current iteration of the Thunder...

https://www.theringer.com/2019/7/10/20689396/kawhi-leonard-power-nba

no, no he didn't.

1. we don't know if the Warriors' dynasty is over

2. if it is, it's because of injuries/Durant leaving, not because of Kawhi

3. Kawhi is starting to become the most overrated player of this generation, and it seems like its happened overnight

Looking from the injury perspective, you can Argue that Golden State Dinasty could have been over before it began, had Zaza not been a killer versus Leonard when he was with the Spurs

GM Wotsup · Post #155 » by **GM Wotsup** » Fri Jul 12, 2019 11:49 am

mkot wrote:This **** needs to stop.

Last time I check Curry and Klay hasn't retired and basketball is a team sport. In fact Kawhi actually struggle in the Finals.

Solid Kawhi take here. I understand now why Masai off loaded him.

Spanish_Laker · Post #156 » by **Spanish_Laker** » Fri Jul 12, 2019 11:50 am

Nah, everyone knows it was the injury plague which ruined Warriors dynasty.

michaelm · Post #157 » by **michaelm** » Fri Jul 12, 2019 11:58 am

TheWhiteMamba wrote:
clyde21 wrote:why the **** is the media trying to hard to push to garbage narrative?

The path of destruction Kawhi has rendered since leaving the Spurs is a testament to his talent—and power. He ended the Warriors dynasty as we know it, folded the current iteration of the Thunder...

https://www.theringer.com/2019/7/10/20689396/kawhi-leonard-power-nba

no, no he didn't.

1. we don't know if the Warriors' dynasty is over

2. if it is, it's because of injuries/Durant leaving, not because of Kawhi

3. Kawhi is starting to become the most overrated player of this generation, and it seems like its happened overnight

Looking from the injury perspective, you can Argue that Golden State Dinasty could have been over before it began, had Zaza not been a killer versus Leonard when he was with the Spurs

To say nothing of the invisibility suit ZaZa wore when he caused Kawhi’s 2 previous ankle injuries. Like GSW and Durant this year, the Spurs/Popovich cared more about winning a game in the play-offs than Kawhi’s long term health.

BayArea408415 · Post #158 » by **BayArea408415** » Fri Jul 12, 2019 12:02 pm

Jazztop wrote:But yet they lost 3 out of the 5 games Klay played.

Funny how that whole pesky math thing can interfere with our salty narratives

I could have sworn one of those 3 games was the series deciding Game 6 where Klay was shooting out of his mind before he tore his ACL and left the game with the Warriors up 4. He missed the final 14 minutes. :-?

SpreeChokeJob · Post #159 » by **SpreeChokeJob** » Fri Jul 12, 2019 12:42 pm

The dynasty is still ongoing. I think people overrated Durant on this team. The dynasty was always Steph, Klay, Dray. Yes KD made it easier, but to think they can't contend for championships is ridiculous. Mainly because the team took a backseat to keep Durant depressed ass happy. Now that he's gone, this team is taking it back to strength in numbers 2.0.

TheWhiteMamba · Post #160 » by **TheWhiteMamba** » Fri Jul 12, 2019 2:09 pm

michaelm wrote:To say nothing of the invisibility suit ZaZa wore when he caused Kawhi’s 2 previous ankle injuries. Like GSW and Durant this year, the Spurs/Popovich cared more about winning a game in the play-offs than Kawhi’s long term health.

I 100% agree with you about San Antonio and GSW ignoring long term health of KL and KD...

Zaza didn't cause Kawhi's previous injuries, but willingly cheapshotted him to death, perfectly knowing he was already injured.
When you look at Zaza's demeanor on the court, during his career, it's obvious he wanted to hurt Leonard.
I don't put the blame on the Warriors, but on Zaza.

Anyway I was replying to the OP's statement. Anyone can argue and have their beliefs, but we know for sure only FACTS.
Fact is the Raptors won this year. I really believe a healty Dubs team win it all, but we don't know this for sure.
I don't know if without Zaza's cheapshots GSW would have lost that year. Fact is Zaza did what he did. Fact is that the Warriors won the title.