YOU can use all the sports clichés like “focus,” “being on the same page,” and “rugged determination,” and you still won’t be able to put a definitive finger on what made the Golden State Warriors achieve the all-time best record of 73 wins in a single NBA season.
For all we know, it was simply a case of a team that liked to play basketball together and win.
All of us have our basketball groups; some have more than one, an indication of sheer passion or even addiction to the game. Never mind the age or skill level. The key is sheer enjoyment of a game played in childhood and teenage years, on hot street courts or in plush subdivision layouts.
Even if many had their hoop dreams crushed by a tryout, where many more talented players came, or if participation was then relegated to token appearances in intramural competition, the love of the game never really waned.
This love of the game is so evident in the Warriors, who broke the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls record of 72 regular-season wins. Jordan’s team was different in that it had one of the best ever to play the game and a collection of role players that executed Phil Jackson’s interpretation of the triangle to as far as they could take it.
There is no evidence of how close or chummy the Bulls were as a unit off the court. There was at least utmost respect for each other’s skills and capabilities. How could the core of the Bulls really love Dennis Rodman when the former Detroit Piston was part of one of their fiercest rivals in the Eastern Conference? Those Bulls were, at best, professional and that when basketball time came around, they did their jobs as diligently as they could.
Based on body language alone, the present-day Warriors are looser and a more rambunctious bunch. You can see it in the high fives and body slams they exchange when great plays are executed or tough wins are scored. But more importantly, you see their enjoyment in the way they share the basketball on the floor, hoping to make one more pass to create a better attempt at the basket.
There is trust in this Warriors system. Because of coach Steve Kerr’s pedigree from those Bulls and the San Antonio Spurs, there is immense ball movement even if the bulk of the attacks are anchored on Steph Curry. Curry knows how to share when he has to and his teammates know when Curry has to be who he is.
The Warriors provide us a sports lesson that can be applied to life. We may not always be in the best occupational situation where there is mistrust and an inability to laugh at human missteps. But we should at least try to be as professional and as cooperative as possible to achieve group goals and targets.
And the Warriors also teach us that leadership and the environment it creates are also crucial to success. Being a role player for most of his playing career, Kerr knew how important each team member was to success. Remember those big game-changing shots he hit as a Bull and a Spur?
To top it all, he has been on two teams that have won more regular season games than any squad in league history.