Before and after the Golden State Warriors won the championship last year, there were rumblings through the journalism and social media community, respectively, about the Warriors not deserving their championship due to their path being filled with injury-depleted teams. Google, "Warriors and asterisk" and you see countless articles from various outlets discussing this notion. But, there is no criticism whatsoever about the path this year's Warriors team has traveled on their way to a NBA record 73 wins. These are the facts:
-During All-Star Weekend in February 2015, in response to an increase of injured superstars, Adam Silver announced a desire to make changes to the upcoming NBA schedule to allow players more rest.
-Silver and the NBA followed through on this proposal, announcing in August 2015 sweeping changes to the way they scheduled games.
-The league made a serious dent in four-games-in-five-days sets, cutting those from 70 last season to 27 this season – a 61% decrease.
-Back-to-backs were reduced to 17.8 per team for 2015-16, down from 19.3 last season, and no team had more than 20 back-to-backs this season.
-Long-distance back-to-backs were trimmed from 111 last season to 85 this season; back-to-backs that cross a time zone were cut from 194 last season to 160 this season.
-Four games in five days were reduced to .9 per team for 2015-16, down from 2.3 per team last season.
-The NBA reduced the number of miles traveled per team by 2%.
I'm surprised that the many people antagonizing the Warriors a year ago have become so silent about their run now. Those rumblings were so strong that Draymond Green said they used it as motivation for their run this year. Perhaps the beloved play of Stephen Curry was so strong that it overshadowed any criticism?
To the Warriors credit, they did travel a league high 53,575 miles. In comparison, their finals opponent last year, the Cavaliers, only traveled 35,055 miles. But, the Spurs traveled the fourth highest at 50,015 miles and tied the single-season home wins record while resting players throughout the year (and also were on pace for 70+ wins themselves).
As sports fans, whenever there was an improbable record broken, there was at most backlash, at the least, a hyperbolic debate. Think about when Marris broke Ruth's home run record (not to mention Hank Aaron) or more recently, Drew Brees breaking Dan Marino's single-season yardage record. There were constant conversations about the schedule or rule changes, respectively, boosting the player's chances of success. Hell, even the '96 Bulls record was dismissed as a byproduct of a watered down league due to the addition of two expansion teams. Yet, there is nothing but universal acclaim for this Warriors teams' accomplishments.
Thoughts?
-During All-Star Weekend in February 2015, in response to an increase of injured superstars, Adam Silver announced a desire to make changes to the upcoming NBA schedule to allow players more rest.
-Silver and the NBA followed through on this proposal, announcing in August 2015 sweeping changes to the way they scheduled games.
-The league made a serious dent in four-games-in-five-days sets, cutting those from 70 last season to 27 this season – a 61% decrease.
-Back-to-backs were reduced to 17.8 per team for 2015-16, down from 19.3 last season, and no team had more than 20 back-to-backs this season.
-Long-distance back-to-backs were trimmed from 111 last season to 85 this season; back-to-backs that cross a time zone were cut from 194 last season to 160 this season.
-Four games in five days were reduced to .9 per team for 2015-16, down from 2.3 per team last season.
-The NBA reduced the number of miles traveled per team by 2%.
I'm surprised that the many people antagonizing the Warriors a year ago have become so silent about their run now. Those rumblings were so strong that Draymond Green said they used it as motivation for their run this year. Perhaps the beloved play of Stephen Curry was so strong that it overshadowed any criticism?
To the Warriors credit, they did travel a league high 53,575 miles. In comparison, their finals opponent last year, the Cavaliers, only traveled 35,055 miles. But, the Spurs traveled the fourth highest at 50,015 miles and tied the single-season home wins record while resting players throughout the year (and also were on pace for 70+ wins themselves).
As sports fans, whenever there was an improbable record broken, there was at most backlash, at the least, a hyperbolic debate. Think about when Marris broke Ruth's home run record (not to mention Hank Aaron) or more recently, Drew Brees breaking Dan Marino's single-season yardage record. There were constant conversations about the schedule or rule changes, respectively, boosting the player's chances of success. Hell, even the '96 Bulls record was dismissed as a byproduct of a watered down league due to the addition of two expansion teams. Yet, there is nothing but universal acclaim for this Warriors teams' accomplishments.
Thoughts?
