Strangely Comforting

All good things...(SI's 5/20/19 cover)

Like other bandwagon riders, I started following the Golden State Warriors again when they made the playoffs in the 2012-2013 season and had one player, David Lee, named to the All-Star team for the first time in 16 years. Under new head coach Steve Kerr the Warriors won the NBA championship in 2015, lost in the 2016 Finals to the Cleveland Cavaliers, and signed superstar Kevin Durant after the 2016 loss.

Entering the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 seasons, they were prohibitive favorites to win the title and did. Kevin Durant's last committed season was 2018-2019, and, while the Warriors were again the championship favorite, most of the discussion around the NBA water cooler for the past year was about Kevin Durant and other free agents' next teams, changing the balance of power in the league and likely ending the Warriors era.

In Game 6 of the Finals last night, the Toronto Raptors dethroned the Warriors, who, beset by season-ending injuries to Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson, refused to make excuses and praised the winners.

Though the final result fell short of pre-season expectations, the Warriors' performance during the playoffs displayed character and drive under great adversity, drive that few suspected was there after five years of continued winning.

Just as the loss in 2016 led to the signing of Kevin Durant and the disruption of the NBA, so will the Raptors' victory, the Warriors' loss, and the injuries to K.D. and Klay cause changes that no one can foresee. No one knows anything, and we find that strangely comforting.