For the Golden State Warriors, it’s making history or more millions.
As the Warriors roll toward their second NBA championship in three years, they can’t lose. Certainly, no team has ever overcome a 3-0 deficit in the NBA playoffs – has any professional team done so in the post-season besides the 2004 Boston Red Sox? So it’s just a matter of when the Dubs are crowned for 2017.
If it is tonight in Game 4 at Cleveland, the Warriors will become that record-breaking NBA franchise, the first to go 16-0 in the playoffs by sweeping the Portland Trailblazers, Utah Jazz, San Antonio Spurs and the Cavaliers all in four straight. Five teams have won the pro basketball world championship with only one loss on their title runs, but no team has swept every series.
So that’s history. But even if they lose Game 4 to LeBron James & Co., the Warriors will make more money by playing a fifth game at home and even a seventh game should Cleveland mount an unlikely, miraculous comeback. The team would stand to make an additional $22 million if the series went seven games, including ticket sales from Games 5 and 7, concessions, parking and merchandise.
So even playing one more home game would generate enough money to pay more than one half of Stephen Curry’s salary next season.The Warriors owners and stake holders can root for their team tonight to make history, and know if it loses and must return to Oracle Arena for one more game, it is not the end of the world. In fact, it means even more money in the bank.
Now, we know how the Warriors prefer to do it, by sweeping the Cavaliers, avenging the loss in last year’s NBA Finals when they had a 3-1 lead and setting a playoff mark that may never be equaled unless, of course, they did it again next year. Such a sweep would also increase the value of the franchise perhaps more than the $22 million it would make if the series went the distance. But drubbing King James and the Cavs would validate the money it spent to sign free agent Kevin Durant during the off-season.
Durant is on his way to not only a first championship ring, but also the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player for his spectacular playoff performance so far, scoring 31 points in Game 3 and combining with Curry to outscore the Cavaliers 11-0 down the stretch. If so, there would be a new question open for debate: Best Player in the World.
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