Golden State Warriors may be the team to beat in NBA finals
5/22/2015, 1:22 p.m. | Updated on 5/22/2015, 2:52 p.m.
No Spurs. No Heat. No Lakers. No Celtics.
No one can say “same ol’ same ol’” about this year’s NBA Conference Finals.
The surviving Atlanta Hawks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets have more recently represented the league’s have-nots than haves.
None of the teams has won an NBA title since Houston in 1995, when current league MVP Stephen Curry was just 7 years old.
Here’s a look at the NBA’s Final Four:
Atlanta Hawks
Regular season: 67-15; top seed in the Eastern Conference.
Playoffs: Defeated Brooklyn 4-2, Washington 4-3.
Coach: Mike Budenholzer.
Franchise history: Born in 1946 as the Tri-Cities Blackhawks; became the Milwaukee Hawks in 1951, St. Louis Hawks in 1955 and Atlanta Hawks in 1968.
Titles: Won NBA in 1958.
Top scorer in playoffs: DeMarre Carroll, 17.1 average; known as “Junkyard Dog,” this is 6-foot-8 Carroll’s fifth NBA stop since playing collegiate ball at Missouri and Vanderbilt.
Cleveland Cavaliers
Regular season: 53-29; No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Playoffs: Defeated Boston 4-0 and Chicago 4-2.
Coach: David Blatt.
History: Expansion team in 1970.
NBA titles: None.
Top scorer in playoffs: LeBron James, 26.5; “King James” has been a four-time league MVP after jumping straight to the NBA from Akron, Ohio’s St. Vincent-St. Mary High in 2003.
Houston Rockets
Regular season: 56-26; No. 2 seed in the Western Conference.
Playoffs: Defeated Dallas 4-1, L.A. Clippers 4-3.
Coach: Rudy Tomjanovich.
History: Began operations in 1967 as the San Diego Rockets; moved to Houston in 1971.
NBA titles: 1994 and 1995.
Top scorer in playoffs: James Harden, 26.7; “Fear the Beard” is the slogan for the brilliant shooting guard out of Arizona State. He was traded to the Rockets from Oklahoma City in 2012. He also was the third overall draft pick in 2009.
Golden State Warriors
Regular season: 60-22; top seed in the Western Conference.
Playoffs: Defeated New Orleans 4-0 and Memphis 4-2.
Coach: Steve Kerr.
History: Started as the Philadelphia Warriors in 1946; moved to San Francisco in 1963 as the San Francisco Warriors until becoming the Golden State Warriors in 1965.
NBA titles: 1947, 1956 and 1975.
Top scorer in playoffs: MVP Stephen Curry, 28.2; son of former Virginia Tech/NBA star Dell Curry is perhaps the best long-range shooter in league history with 1,191 career regular-season treys since 2010.
Envelop please? The Warriors arguably had the league’s all-time, best two-point inside shooter in Wilt Chamberlain, who played with the franchise for six seasons in Philadelphia and San Francisco.
Still, the Warriors never won a NBA crown with Chamberlain, even though he averaged in successive seasons a prodigious 37.6, 38.4, 50.4, 44.8, 36.9 and 34.7 points per game and once had 100 points in a night.
Now with arguably the games’ top 3-point marksman — Curry, the Warriors seem to be the team to beat. And the good thing for Golden State is it won’t have to worry about Chamberlain’s old nemesis, Bill Russell and the Boston Celtics dynasty.