The Big Challenge

At the start of the NBA season and well into it, everybody said another championship for the Golden State Warriors was a foregone conclusion.  But nobody is saying that now that the playoffs are about to start.

An almost incredible collection of injuries kept the Warriors from establishing any kind of rhythm, though they did have the possibly important effect of getting more players on the court in various combinations, and the coaches saw it all.

But not even notching 60 wins, and with losses to good, bad and indifferent teams, the Warriors have lost their aura of invincibility.  Everybody ups their game when they play them, but now everyone knows they can be beaten.

 Last year's playoffs the Warriors equaled the great Lakers mark of 16-1.  That's not going to happen this year.  They haven't blown teams out by 30 points in a long time, and so every game is going to be contested deep into it.  They are vulnerable, and the more games they need to play to win each series, the more vulnerable they become.

Steph Curry is all but officially out for at least the first round.  The Dubs now depend on Kevin Durant for leadership.  The style of play on offense is different, and the need for stellar defense is even greater.  For all their talent, the truth is that the Warriors haven't shown their championship selves recently.  Maybe when they beat OKC we got a hint.  But it doesn't seem anybody can have the confidence everyone had at the beginning of the season.  Anybody but the team itself, that is.

Across the bay, the championship hopes of the San Francisco Giants seemed to disappear almost before they got started. Their #1 pitcher Madison Bumgarner got hit on his pitching hand in a tune-up game and will be out until June.  Right now the #2 and #3 pitchers in the rotation are injured, as is their high-priced closer.

But the young pitchers and the new team on the field have produced some exciting baseball, capped with a 14 inning game at home against the Dodgers, in which new Giant Andrew McCutchen collected six hits, including the walk-off homer. One of those memorable games for the people who saw it.

Six hits in a game is very rare, even with extra innings.  The only time I even heard the broadcast of a game where that happened was when Dick Groat did it for the Pirates at Forbes Field in their championship year of 1960, in a nine inning game if I remember correctly.