2014-18 Golden State Warriors Are Officially A Dynasty

The Golden State Warriors have officially become a dynasty within the NBA. It seems to be an unpopular opinion that most will not want to recognize, but it’s hard to deny that the Warriors have been anything less than dominant over the last four years. There have only been four organizations since the start of the NBA in which they have won three championships in a four year period” The Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls and now the Golden State Warriors.

The Lakers have done in multiple times, the Celtics dominated the 1960’s, Chicago ran through 1996-98, and one could argue that Golden State should have had the last four years in their trophy cabinet.

It was never a question that the current crop of players within the Warriors organization would be highlighted in history, however, it was sometimes questioned as to whether the players would be able to keep it up over a couple of seasons. Critics were looking at the “choke of 2015-16” as the start of the downfall for Golden State. After going 73-9 in the regular season, the Warriors let go of a 3-1 series lead to lose 4-3 to the Cleveland Cavaliers. It was the end of their dominance, until the signing of Kevin Durant happened.

Durant signed with Golden State from Oklahoma City, and the “Splash Brothers” added a triplet to their family. Within the last two years, Durant has helped relieve the scoring pressure from Steph Curry and Klay Thompson. When Curry and Thompson both were injured during the past season, it was Durant who stepped up.

Durant was seen as a title chaser, a glory hunter. He was trashed and dragged through the press, and a lot of media outlets called it the right move for the wrong reasons. LeBron James did the same thing twice, first leaving Cleveland to go to Miami, and then again when he came back to Cleveland. He achieved his goal in Miami, grabbing two titles in the process. He then went back to Cleveland and brought home another championship, with speculation now that his career with the Cavs is over.

Why is it over? It’s a bit of a trek over to Oakland to see, but the end result is worth the trip. In the last two NBA Finals series, the Warriors have lost one game. In the four years that Golden State and Cleveland have been in the finals, Cleveland have won only seven games. Four of those came in the 2016 series, but Golden State just swept Cleveland.

If there was going to be a year outside of 2013-14 that Golden State were in trouble of missing the Finals, it was this year. Houston had an incredible year off the back of James Harden, Portland had their best year since 2014-15 before their choke against New Orleans, Utah had another solid year to back up from the 2016-17 season, and we can’t forget about Boston and Cleveland in the East.

This was a year where even though it was almost known at the start of the season where we would have another Warriors vs Cavaliers championship series, it was not a forgone conclusion. The only conclusion seemed to be that once game one of the finals series went to overtime, the Warriors were going to go on to win the series. The fact that they ended up taking out the broom and sweeping the floor with the Cavaliers just proves the point.

Fans and critics can look at it any way that they want to, but Golden State built a dynasty that will forever be seen as one of the most successful teams in any era of professional basketball.

While names like Bogut, Iguodala, Green and Livingston may be overlooked in the years to come by everyone who is not a Warriors fan, you can not argue the dominance of this organization. The last four seasons have been the best four years in Warriors history. With the main three all being 30 or younger, this domination could continue for a few years to come. That, is a dynasty.

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