The end of an NBA era

The Warriors' loss could herald an unprecedented level of parity in the league

Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Claus Andersen/Getty Images, AP Photo/Ben Margot, AP Photo/Tony Avelar, Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images, ISMODE/iStock)

This is not the end of the Golden State Warriors, so to speak. Despite losing, some would say surprisingly, to the Toronto Raptors in six games in the NBA Finals, Golden State will almost certainly remain one of the league's best teams. But the loss is still the end of a very specific version of the Warriors — a team that, no matter what opponents threw at them, seemed invincible — and the NBA as a whole. Five years is a long time to rule the league, after all.

All it took to end the Warriors' quest for three consecutive titles were devastating injuries to stars Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson and the transcendent play of Toronto's noiseless star Kawhi Leonard, who has ended basketball empires before. Though sterling performances from Raptors guards Kyle Lowry and Fred VanVleet to close out the series in Oakland came in handy, as well.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.