It’s a classic story, one that could have been written a year ago.
It could have taken place in January or February of 2018, when the NBA regular season was underway, or perhaps later, when Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder were locked in a two-game playoff series against the San Antonio Spurs.
It was, to put it lightly, a wild, crazy, epic, thrilling and, yes, thrilling finale.
Instead, the NBA will have to wait until the summer of 2021, the same summer when the 2018 NBA Draft will begin.
And, it will take a while.
The 2018 NBA season was a total mess.
It began with three teams in the playoffs, two of which had to lose two of their three games to make the NBA Playoffs.
The Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers were swept in the first round of the playoffs.
They went on to lose the next two games in the conference semifinals, but then they took down the San Francisco Warriors in the Finals for the franchise’s fifth championship.
This season’s first round matchup between the Golden State and Los Vegas Warriors was decided by the final buzzer of the second quarter, with Golden State outscoring the Clippers 35-16 in the third quarter to seal the series.
The series was tied 3-3 at halftime, and then the Golden States scored two quick baskets to take a 6-3 lead into halftime.
But then Los Vegas scored five straight points in the fourth quarter, and the Warriors scored their first six points of the final quarter to pull even.
Golden State eventually outscored the Clippers 27-14 in the final four minutes of the game to pull within three games of the defending champs.
The Golden State-L.A. Warriors series was one of the most thrilling moments of the 2017-18 season, and one of only two to end in a tie.
That series featured some of the best basketball of the decade, including a Game 7 in which the Warriors were able to pull off an improbable comeback, and a second-round matchup in which Golden State took down San Antonio in the NBA Championship Game.
The Warriors, led by Harrison Barnes, are now undefeated in their first five games, and they’ve taken on some of NBA’s best defenses to the tune of five straight wins.
