The Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers appear destined for a rubber match in the 2017 NBA Finals, and seemingly everyone knows it. Heading into Friday’s Game 2 in Boston, neither has lost even a single game in the postseason, and for the most part, both teams have cruised past their opponents on a game-to-game basis.
With that in mind, NBA commissioner Adam Silver joined Hannah Storm on ESPN on Friday to discuss a myriad of topics, and one of them was the potential concern of having two teams that are head and shoulders above the rest.
While Silver did get in to other issues, including the always controversial decision to rest players, here are his comments on the dominance of the Warriors and Cavs this season.
“It’s not a concern. I think that we should celebrating excellence. People are already anointing these teams as dominant and franchise teams. But, on the other hand, I look at the [Warriors] that hadn’t won a championship in 40 years. The Cavaliers, of course, won last year and had never won a championship before in this league. As you know, you look back at the historic franchises in this league. The Celtics with 17 championships. The Lakers with 16. I think they have a long way to go before I would put them in that category. Of course you want to see balance throughout the league. At the same time, when teams are excelling and playing at that level, I think, the fan in me, it’s fantastic to watch.”
Silver shares his sentiment with many fans that enjoy the fact that dynastic teams have emerged over time. His reference to the Celtics and Lakers (who hold nearly half of the NBA’s titles) is a subtle reminder of the fact that the NBA has never been known for parity, and while it may seem more drastic this season, that isn’t necessarily the case.
This discussion will almost certainly continue, especially if neither the Warriors or Cavaliers are challenged to any degree in their respective Conference Finals match-ups. Hopefully, for the NBA’s sake, their third consecutive NBA Finals showdown will be compelling enough to take the attention away from discussions surrounding a perceived lack of competition.
