The Warriors are probably the best team the NBA has seen in 20 years, but the defending champions showed in Game 4 they’re more than afterthoughts

The Cleveland Cavaliers are still the NBA’s current champion with essentially the same team from last year’s title and it was particularly cruel they had to spend three days at home enduring a debate about whether these Golden State Warriors are the greatest team ever. What happened Friday night with Cleveland’s 137-116 Game 4 trampling of the Warriors shouldn’t be a surprise.

Did everyone really think Golden State – as good as they have played – are that much better than the Cavs?

The Warriors might have two of the game’s three top players, but LeBron James is still the best of his generation. And though he tried to pretend late Friday night that he missed all the chatter of about Golden State’s historical brilliance, he certainly picked up enough to carry a grudge as big as the arena into Game 4.

NBA finals Game 4: Golden State Warriors 116-137 Cleveland Cavaliers – as it happened Read more

“Some of the other guys heard it and told me that they wanted to celebrate on our floor once again and they wanted to spray champagne in our locker room,” said James, who seemed specific on details despite his protests that he wasn’t listening to the talk about Golden State’s dominance.

He even had an obvious culprit.

“I think it came from (Warriors forward) Draymond (Green),” James added.

The most honest words uttered so far in these finals came from Cavs guard Kyrie Irving who said: “We see everything, I’ll be sitting up here lying (if I said) we didn’t see it.”

If there is one truth about today’s NBA players it’s that they read and hear every word said about them. Players are constantly griping about seemingly innocuous lines from weeks-old stories or stray comments thrown out on radio shows. The idea they slip themselves into cocoons, blacking out a media world swirling around them, is a farce. What they don’t see on their computers or glimpse on television is fed to them by an armada of sycophants eager to deliver any news that might catch the player’s attention.

In other words, the Cavs – who still possess the most recent Larry O’Brien trophy – were well-aware that the Warriors have become the Showtime Lakers, Jordan Bulls and 1960s Celtics all in one. They also heard a lot of talk about how they were going to lose these finals in four games and that they were done as any real championship contender for the next few years.

When asked what part of the Warriors talk upset him most, Irving said:

“All of it.”

“It’s part of the game, I understand that,” he added. “But we knew what we were faced with, that’s what it was. But then you add, of course, some chatter out there and that adds some extra motivation. And you give us a day in between and we were ready to come out - especially me because that taste wouldn’t have been the same if we would have lost tonight and they would have celebrated on our home floor. So I’ll just leave it at that.”

The Warriors are a great team, they are probably the best team the league has seen in 20 years. They set the NBA record for regular-season wins last year and then got even better this year by adding Kevin Durant. Heading into Friday night, they had stormed through the playoffs with 15 straight victories, 30 wins in 31 overall, and it was plausible for people to wonder if they could become the first team to go 16-0 in a postseason.

They are all but certain to win these finals. While last year’s team blew a 3-1 lead to these same Cavaliers in a similar situation (with two of the next three games in Oakland), the fact Golden State won Wednesday’s Game 3 makes everything different. There is a big difference between going up 3-0 in a series as the Warriors did this year as opposed to losing Game 3 as they did last spring and having to fight back to go up 3-1. Golden State are too good to lose four straight to Cleveland. The Cavs aren’t strong enough defensively to stop this Warriors team. They have too many weapons.

But this expectation that Golden State were going to sweep Cleveland always seemed far-fetched. Remember, the Warriors – for all their dominance this spring – were down 25 points to San Antonio in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals and came back to win only after Spurs star Kawhi Leonard was knocked out of the series with a sprained ankle. Golden State probably would have won that series even if Leonard hadn’t been hurt, though it would have been more of a grind. And there wouldn’t have been any talk about the Warriors being the best team ever.

A lot went against the Warriors on Friday. The crowd was extra loud, there were several early fouls called on the Golden State players that seemed to upset them and the Cavs hit 53% of their three-point attempts. They even feared they had lost Green for Game 5 for a second straight year when he appeared to draw his second technical and an automatic ejection, but the officials later said they had given Green’s first technical on Friday to Warriors coach Steve Kerr. A huge break for Golden State.

But Game 4 was about the league’s current champion refusing to cede historic greatness to a team they beat last spring.

“They were aggressive, you have to give them some credit,” said Green, who nonetheless still complained that so many Warriors were in early foul trouble that they couldn’t be as aggressive as they wanted.

There’s still some pride in Cleveland.