The Best N.B.A. Season of the Decade? Too Hard to Choose

Nothing tops the 2015-16 season from start to finish. I had a front-row seat for a good chunk of Golden State’s insane 24-0 launch to the regular season — all, remember, without the ailing Kerr — and I remain convinced that no team will ever match it. The Cavaliers’ comeback from 3-1 down in the finals, against a Warriors team that had won a record 73 games, was equally historic given the five decades that the city of Cleveland had waited for a major championship. Throw in the 60 points that Kobe Bryant scored in his final N.B.A. game and there is no debate in this category.

It would have been more difficult for a ’90s kid like me to accept the death of the Bulls’ wins record had it not been so much fun to see the Warriors take it down. Their dominance in the 2015-16 regular season was boring to some, and I get it. Each night you wondered whether they’d win by 30 points or 40, or if Curry would even need to play the second half. But I love that kind of excellence; it’s why it’s so much fun to watch the Lakers combo of James and Anthony Davis now.

The 2015-16 season had everything: intrigue, entertainment, surprises. Who can forget how the Warriors turned the regular season into performance art? They won their first 24 games by dismantling their opponents and went on to finish 73-9, a record-setting run that most figured would extend into the playoffs.

Golden State even had a 3-1 lead against the Cavaliers in the N.B.A. finals. But Draymond Green got suspended for Game 5, James engineered his usual heroics and Kyrie Irving drained a 3-pointer for the ages in Game 7 to clinch the Cavaliers’ first championship.

“The game always gives back to people that are true to the game,” James said afterward. “I’ve watched it. I know the history of the game, and I was just calm. I was calm.”

Source: The New York Times

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