Warriors on brink of eternally stamping legacy

Are the 2017 Golden State Warriors the greatest NBA team of all time? This question will be asked over and over throughout the coming weeks, months and years, once they capture the Larry O’ Brien Trophy in the next few days.

Golden State might have set the regular-season wins record last year with 73, but this group is even more dominant. The Warriors coasted through the season this time around with perhaps the best starting lineup since the days of the 1973 New York Knicks, which featured five Hall of Famers. In the postseason, the cast of Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson has put on the greatest show we’ve ever witness, currently sitting one game away from perfection.

We can all argue about whether the Warriors of today are better than the Chicago Bulls of the 1990s, or the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers of the 1980s. What can’t be argued is that with a Game 4 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday night at Quicken Loans Arena, Golden State will have the most impressive playoff run possible.

The road has not been easy. While nobody would argue that the Portland Trail Blazers were a world-beater, they do have a pair of ultra-talented guards in C.J. McCollum and Damian Lillard. In the second round, the Utah Jazz have a tremendous home court, the best defense in the league (per points against) and a pair of stars in Gordon Hayward and Rudy Gobert. The conference final against the San Antonio Spurs was the true downer, with the Spurs missing both Kawhi Leonard and Tony Parker.

Still, the Cavaliers came into the NBA Finals ready and willing to play. Cleveland has a trio of future Hall of Famers in LeBron James, Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving. James is indisputably the best player in the world. He’s been brilliant in this series, averaging a triple-double and playing tremendous defense. It hasn’t mattered. The Warriors have cast him aside as they do with everyone else. James is perhaps the greatest player to ever play, and he’s been powerless to stop the best offensive machine this game has seen, if not ever, than for some time.

As for which team is the greatest of all time? It’s an endless debate that needs more context than most are willing to provide. The Warriors would likely beat anybody under today’s rules, but could they beat the Bulls in the handcheck era of the ’90s? Could Golden State handle the size of the Showtime Lakers, led by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson and James Worthy? What about the Celtics of the ’80s, who matched talent and brawn to give us a front line of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish?

Nobody will ever know, and it doesn’t matter. All that matters for the Warriors is one more win. Then, they eternally join this conversation, and does so with another ring on their collective fingers.