Does it even matter until Curry retires?

[jaketwice]

28 points on 15 shots. Even if we drafted Simmons and Ingraham it would still be 4 and out against GSW.

[Eja117]

Hellloooo....you play....to win...a ring. You play....to win...a ring.

(It was a Jets guy that said you play to win the game but that's because Jets can only conceive of winning games.)

[slightly biased bias fan]

28 points on 15 shots. Even if we drafted Simmons and Ingraham it would still be 4 and out against GSW.

It all depends on match ups. I maintain that Thunder don't have the match ups to worry Warriors, just as Raptors aren't made to beat Cavs.

Westbrook has so much pressure on him to score and create for KD that he can't possibly concentrate on guarding Curry and Roberson has no chance stopping Thompson, Cavs have the best man to man match up against Warriors as Delly showed if you have someone who's sole responsibility is to shadow Curry and make him work his ass off for his shot it can unsettle his rhythm and every now and then change up the match up with Irving, James. Then Shumpert or JR Smith on Thompson, TT or James on Green if they go small or Mozgov on Bogut.

It's all a matter of good coaching, strategy and the roster to pull it off, which I think Stevens, Ainge are capable of.

[Roy H.]

The Warriors aren't unbeatable, as demonstrated in Game 1.

[saltlover]

Just a few weeks ago Curry had multiple injury scares.  Even if you think the Warriors are unbeatable in a seven-game series with Curry, he might miss a series some time in the future.  You want to at least have a team that is ready to take advantage of that opportunity.

[slightly biased bias fan]

The Warriors aren't unbeatable, as demonstrated in Game 1.

If we can build a contender and can keep Smart to guard Curry 1 on 1 =



Someone will have to call the wambulance for Chef Curry haha

[dannyboy35]

Smart can't guard quick point guards. Doesn't have the foot speed. Avery is about as good as it gets though.

[Surferdad]

Some were saying the same thing about LeBron, and I suppose it is still true.  So nothing matters until these guys are out of the league?  Okay, I will switch from watching basketball to curling for the next 10 years.

[Ed Hollison]

Holy resignation, Batman!

[Gainesville Celtic]

Some were saying the same thing about LeBron, and I suppose it is still true.  So nothing matters until these guys are out of the league?  Okay, I will switch from watching basketball to curling for the next 10 years.

To be honest, I've only really felt that way (i.e. that "nothing matters till that guy's gone") about 3-4 players since the Bird/McHale/Parrish years:


- Jordan (c. 1992-98; obvs. not the 2 years he played baseball;)

- Shaq/Kobe (c. 2001-02; Had Shaq/Kobe been able to coexist it felt like they woulda won 6-7 straight; That 2-3 year span was the closest it's come to feeling like Jordan-level what does it matter.)

- Lebron (c. parts of 2007-1st half of 2010, then mid-2012; Basically his first 2 MVP years... The fact that Ainge built a great team just as Lebron was entering "does it really matter?" territory obvs. muted that feeling but Lebron was the one guy who scared me the most during the Pierce/KG/Allen years — more than Kobe; Lost that feeling once it was clear how long it took (relative to KG/PP/RA) for he, Wade and Bosh to mesh, regained it 1/2 way through their run)


For all their greatness I never felt "does it really matter" about Duncan, post-Shaq Kobe, post-Kobe Shaq, Nash, pre-Celtics KG, Durant or Iverson.

I've not felt it about the Curry & the Warriors for some reason either. Maybe it's having a better grasp of the CBA and the difficulty teams have in keeping everyone together. And general GM/front office accumen has probably improved since the 90s.

Or maybe it's feeling like there are ways to stop/beat each of these players --- whereas it felt like no contemporary could do that with Jordan/Shaq-Kobe/Lebron.


Strangely the only other player that came close to filling me with that feeling of desperation was, for a brief time, Dwight Howard (c. 2008-09). It was probably just b/c I got to see him in person a 1/2 dozen times, but the ability to stop Howard really worried me for a 8-month stretch spanning 2 seasons... He was just so dominant AND a SVG had figured out how best to use him. When it became clear that his development curve had leveled off that feeling stopped, but jeez-louise he was a load for a time.

[Boris Badenov]

Some were saying the same thing about LeBron, and I suppose it is still true.  So nothing matters until these guys are out of the league?  Okay, I will switch from watching basketball to curling for the next 10 years.

To be honest, I've only really felt that way (i.e. that "nothing matters till that guy's gone") about 3-4 players since the Bird/McHale/Parrish years:


- Jordan (c. 1992-98; obvs. not the 2 years he played baseball;)

- Shaq/Kobe (c. 2001-02; Had Shaq/Kobe been able to coexist it felt like they woulda won 6-7 straight; That 2-3 year span was the closest it's come to feeling like Jordan-level what does it matter.)

- Lebron (c. parts of 2007-1st half of 2010, then mid-2012; Basically his first 2 MVP years... The fact that Ainge built a great team just as Lebron was entering "does it really matter?" territory obvs. muted that feeling but Lebron was the one guy who scared me the most during the Pierce/KG/Allen years — more than Kobe; Lost that feeling once it was clear how long it took (relative to KG/PP/RA) for he, Wade and Bosh to mesh, regained it 1/2 way through their run)


For all their greatness I never felt "does it really matter" about Duncan, post-Shaq Kobe, post-Kobe Shaq, Nash, pre-Celtics KG, Durant or Iverson.

I've not felt it about the Curry & the Warriors for some reason either. Maybe it's having a better grasp of the CBA and the difficulty teams have in keeping everyone together. And general GM/front office accumen has probably improved since the 90s.

Or maybe it's feeling like there are ways to stop/beat each of these players --- whereas it felt like no contemporary could do that with Jordan/Shaq-Kobe/Lebron.


Strangely the only other player that came close to filling me with that feeling of desperation was, for a brief time, Dwight Howard (c. 2008-09). It was probably just b/c I got to see him in person a 1/2 dozen times, but the ability to stop Howard really worried me for a 8-month stretch spanning 2 seasons... He was just so dominant AND a SVG had figured out how best to use him. When it became clear that his development curve had leveled off that feeling stopped, but jeez-louise he was a load for a time.

And yet, even your best examples of "does it matter" periods include a total of around 15 years for the Shaq/Kobe and Lebron runs, and those guys didn't even win a majority of championships.

Lebron has been the best player in the league for about a decade and he has two rings.

I think you just made a pretty good case for competing hard no matter what the rest of the talent pool looks like.

Signed,

Dirk from Dallas and Chauncey from Detroit.

[Fafnir]

Sure it does LBJ was the best player in the league by a greater margin from 2006-2007 through probably the 2013-2014 season. His teams were always contenders but he only won 2 titles.

[sofutomygaha]

28 points on 15 shots. Even if we drafted Simmons and Ingraham it would still be 4 and out against GSW.

Curry will be great for a while, but this is literally the best Curry will ever be. This is his peak. In a year or two it will be someone else.

[mef730]

Perhaps I'm missing something, but didn't this year's Celtics take them to double-OT in one game and beat them in a second game? Call me a crazy optimist, but it's a wee bit early to give up.

Mike

[Ilikesports17]

Yes it matters. A lot actually.

I feared the Heat more than the Warriors.