The Golden State Warriors kind of took the Western Conference Finals series by the throat last night, pulling ahead late and breaking the hearts of the Trailblazers and their hometown fans in Portland. Right now, the Warriors have a commanding 3 games to none lead, which means that they are on the cusp of becoming the first franchise in my lifetime to qualify for five straight NBA Finals.
This is a historical moment of dominance, should Golden State manage to achieve the feat, which now seems inevitable. If they should manage it, they then have a decent chance at taking another NBA title. Having won three of the previous four NBA titles, they would look to add a fourth overall title to their already impressive collection of hardware.
So, while it seems like a foregone conclusion now that the very experienced Warriors will qualify for the NBA Finals again, with superior talent and clearly enjoying considerably from their experience, a lot of people are assuming that the Milwaukee Bucks have the Easter Conference Finals wrapped up already, as well.
This seems, to me, still a bit presumptuous. True, the Bucks look incredible, and own a 2 games to 0 lead over Toronto in the Eastern Conference Finals. But the series will now shift to Toronto, and the Raptors very nearly took Game 1, even if they did get blown out in Game 2. Plus, I have seen numerous teams come back from an 0-2 deficit to win at this level. The Chicago Bulls came back from an 0-2 deficit in the Eastern Conference Finals to beat the New York Knicks in the next four straight games to take the 1993 Eastern Conference Finals. More recently, the Cavaliers looked dead in the water against Golden State in the 2016 NBA Finals when they found themselves down 3 games to 1, only to win three straight and win the title. Prior to that, the Warriors themselves overcame a 3 games to 1 deficit to win the West.
That means that this series is far from over. If Toronto can play well at home, and perhaps take the next two games - a big "if" admittedly - then the series would be tied again. The Raptors have not shown us the best of themselves yet, and my suspicion is that they will show it before this series is out. That is not to say that I am predicting them to win the series, because Milwaukee really does look amazing right now. All I am saying is that it is not quite in the bag at this point, like the Warriors-Blazers series surely appears to be.
Indeed, the Warriors appear to be making history with their current run of success. There have been North American sports teams in my lifetime who have made it to the finals of their sports four years in a row, but only one that I can think of that made it to five straight. That would be the New York Islands, who won four straight Stanley Cups in the 1980's, and then lost on the fifth attempt to the emerging Edmonton Oilers dynasty. Otherwise, the Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers also made it to four straight, like the Warriors did the last four years (and they played the Cavaliers in each of those years, as a matter of fact). Only once can I think of it happening in baseball, when the New York Yankees made it to four straight World Series, winning the first three before falling to the Arizona Diamondbacks in their fourth straight appearance. And in football, only one team has ever made it to four straight Super Bowls. That would be the Buffalo Bills, although they infamously lost all four of those big games. But Golden State at least appears to be on the threshold of a truly unique elite status now.
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