No repeat as LeBron, Cavs endtitle drought

With an extremely sad, but not broken heart, I must tell you the deja vu story of two Golden State Warriors teams – the 1975-76 and 2015-16 squads who, 40 years apart for two seasons, brought so much excitement, joy and pride every night to the Bay Area – was not to be.

Last year it was an entertaining but tense, enjoyable but angst-ridden, euphoric but cautious ride through the 2014-15 NBA season for longtime fans like me and so many in “Dub Nation” that when it finally ended we were still pinching ourselves to make sure it was real and not another longshot dream we’ve had for four decades.

There are not enough words, phrases, sayings or expressions to explain what this year’s 2015-16 Warriors have accomplished on their way to the greatest regular-season achievement in the NBA’s 70-year history, attaining a record-high 73 wins that included many other records including longest league winning streaks to start a season, at home and on the road.

Despite all the recent on-court controversies spilling off the court and fueling emotionally charged debates – yes head coach Steve Kerr, with us diehard fans greeing, is right about Stephen Curry getting mugged and no fouls, while picking up ticky-tack fouls despite being the league’s two-time MVP but getting no respect – the Golden State was posed to shine.

After posting their own remarkable comeback from a 3-1 game-deficit in the recent best-of-seven-games Western Conference finals to eliminate the OKC Thunder, the Warriors had 3-1 game advantage over the LeBron James-run Cleveland Cavaliers and looked headed to their long-sought NBA repeat title.

But King James and his Cavs, also starring the Steph-like Kyree Irving, were the ones who made history when it counted, becoming the first-ever team to overcome the daunting 3-1 game-deficit to dethrone the Warriors, denying them the defining marvelous moment to validate their extraordinary multiple-records-breaking season.

While the Warriors didn’t repeat as the NBA champions, though they still are champions in the Bay Area and beyond, LeBron and the Cavs broke Cleveland’s 52-year title drought among all of the city’s four major sports teams, and Northern Ohio and its title-starved fans deserve the right to celebrate at the highest level.

One side note on Cleveland’s title is that there should be an asterisk next to it symbolizing LeBron’s feeling of entitlement by the NBA and his disrespectful hoops taboo of pushing down and stepping over Draymond Green, which led to Green’s one-game suspension that really turned into a two-game suspension because he couldn’t bring his fire to game six.

With Draymond unable to be the real Draymond, the whole team suffered, missing his emotionally-charged play and it opened the door wide open for the Cavs to get back into the finals after being down three games to one, though the Warriors still had their chances to win game seven, in which Green turned in an outstanding performance.

The Warriors put themselves into a pressure-packed situation where the only way to validate their extraordinary multiple-records-breaking season was to repeat as the NBA champions, and they finally ran low, then out of fuel to complete their amazing journey.

But don’t forget the fact that the Warriors are made up by a fearless group of amazing athletes guided by supurb coaches and they’ll be so primed and pumped to return to their third straight NBA finals following the 2016-17 regular season and playoffs.

Being a hardcore optimist, I’m still going to revel in the Warriors’ best-ever regular season in NBA history and know they will be back in full stride when the next season arrives. Ciao!