The NBA Finals ended last Friday night, and like almost everyone predicted, including myself, the Warriors swept the Cavs. Game 4 was an absolute joke in fact. But, when reflecting back, this whole Finals, and besides 2 rounds, the NBA playoffs were, as a whole, pretty rough.

I love the NBA, but this past month plus of playoff basketball was not very fun to watch. The first round was pretty rough, save for the Cleveland-Indiana series, and that wasn't even top notch basketball. I mean, the Warriors beat the hobbled Spurs in 5, Houston dismantled Minnesota in 5, the Pelicans stomped on the Blazers and Utah blasted OKC. The first round in the West was pretty bad, and mostly predictable. In the East, we have the Cleveland-Indiana series, but, even though it went 7, only LeBron and Victor Oladipo were worth watching. Everything else about that series was rough. Toronto lost 2 to Washington, but we all knew that the Raptors would win that series with ease. Boston had little to no problem with the Bucks, even though Giannis did get 2 wins, and the 76ers, who it was very nice to see them back in the playoffs, dispatched of the Heat with relative ease.

The second round was not any better. In the West, the Rockets easily handled the Jazz in 5, all but showing the rest of the world that Donovan Mitchell was still a rookie. The Warriors gave Anthony Davis one game, but when they decided to care, they hammered the Pelicans. In the East, the Cavs, who clearly own this team, swept the shit out of the Raptors and the Celtics, fully without Kyrie Irving now, surprisingly, and with ease, beat the 76ers in 6.

The conference finals were the only good thing about the playoffs this year. Both series were hard fought and contested. Both series went 7 games. LeBron was amazing in the East. Even though they got beat, I thought James Harden played much better than he ever has this deep in the playoffs. But, the Warriors, after going down 3-2, reminded everyone how great, and how stacked, they really are.

Then we got the fourth straight year of Cavs-Warriors. On paper, and in reality for that matter, this was the most lopsided matchup of these teams since they have faced each other in the Finals. The Cavs are just not a good team. They were not nearly as good on offense this year as they were last year, when the Warriors beat them in 5 games. Losing a player of Kyrie Irving's talent will do that though. This year, probably since only his first couple of years in the league, LeBron had to do EVERYTHING for the Cavs to even have a shot at winning one game. And boy oh boy were they a historically bad defensive team. That showed tenfold these past 4 games. They were just horrendous on that end of the floor. And for the Warriors, this was a cake walk compared to every team they faced in the West playoffs. This is of no disrespect to LeBron, but that Cavs team, and I honestly believe this, would have gotten beat by the Pelicans in the Finals. They were so bad.

With that being said, the Cavs did have a shot to win a game, game one. I wrote all about that monstrosity of officiating and JR Smith and the lack of calling a timeout when you had one and wasting a 50 point plus performance in the Finals from LeBron last week. You can go check out my full thoughts on that. Game 2 was pointless. Steph came out, lit up Oracle Arena and set a record, making 9 threes in a Finals game. Oh, and Klay and KD did their usual thing. I also thought it was hilarious that people thought Klay was going to miss time with a minor injury. That nonsense made me laugh. The Cavs had another shot at a win in game 3, leading by double figures the first half. But KD took over, scored 43 and the Warrior won by 8. Oh, did I mention that they only got 21 points combined from Steph and Klay in that game too? Well, they did. And where has Draymond been all series you may be asking? He played fine defense, but he was a zero on offense. That is how stacked, and almost unfair, this Warriors team is. Three of their four main guys can have a terrible game, but never fear, KD will play the best game of the series, and they will win. Then game 4 was just stupid. RD even texted me at one point, and this was early in the fourth quarter, that this game was gross. I couldn't have agreed more. Game four was a funeral. It was one of the worst closeout games I have ever watched. The Cavs gave up, surrendered, and it showed. Hell, LeBron would only shake hands with the Warriors starters when he checked out, and no one called him out on his poor sportsmanship. People praised him for leaving the floor, as to not show too much emotion. And his "injury" news was some of the fakest shit I have ever seen. LeBron is a masterful basketball player, but all this "woe is me" stuff needs to stop. No one feels sorry for you LeBron.

When the final buzzer sounded, and the Warriors were "celebrating", I was left with a very hollow season. It was what we all expected, but it just felt weird. I wasn't excited. I knew this was coming. I knew KD was going to be the MVP. I knew that the players would talk about how this season was "tougher", and this "journey was different". None of that is true. They knew they were going to win a bunch of titles 2 years ago when they lured KD there. They are a real life cheat code, and it has made the playoffs kind of a drag. We all know now who is going to win, or at least, who should win. And going into next season, surprise surprise, the Warriors are the odds on favorites to win again. This NBA Finals were really a snap shot of how predictable and dull the Finals are going to be in the future.

I guess congrats are in order for the Warriors, but it is getting kind of boring being able to easily predict this stuff every year. I guess this will just make it even sweeter when someone finally knocks them off, whenever that may be.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on all the internet.

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