10 best teams that fell short of winning NBA title
By Phil Watson
1. 2015-16 Golden State Warriors
The Golden State Warriors were one win away from history in 2015-16.
With a 108-97 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena in Game 4 of the NBA Finals, the Warriors were just a single victory away from a second consecutive NBA title to put the cherry on what would be the best season in the history of the association.
In 1995-96, the Chicago Bulls — buoyed by an expansion year and, more significantly, the return of Michael Jordan — won a record 72 games en route to an NBA title. Golden State won 67 games en route to the franchise’s first championship in 40 years in 2014-15 and returned poised for bigger things.
With coach Steve Kerr sidelined after back surgery, the Warriors opened the season with 24 straight wins and went 39-4 under acting coach Luke Walton before Kerr returned.
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The Warriors lost at home to the Minnesota Timberwolves on April 5, 2016, to fall to 69-9 and needed to close the campaign with wins over the San Antonio Spurs, Memphis Grizzlies, the Spurs and the Grizzlies.
Win No. 70 was a 112-101 victory over the Spurs at home on April 7 and two nights later, the Warriors clipped the Grizzlies at Memphis 100-99 on Draymond Green‘s layup with a minute left. Golden State won 92-86 at San Antonio the following night and the record 73rd victory came with a 125-104 drubbing of the Grizzlies to close out the season.
Golden State beat the eighth-seeded Houston Rockets in five games in the first round and did the same to the Portland Trail Blazers in the conference semifinals. But the Warriors needed an epic comeback to escape the Western Conference Finals after the Oklahoma City Thunder had taken a 3-1 lead.
The Dubs won Game 5 at home 120-111, won at Oklahoma City 108-101 in Game 6 and closed out the Thunder in Game 7, 96-88. But after going up 3-1 in the NBA Finals, Golden State lost Game 5 at home and Game 6 at Cleveland by double-digits and Kyrie Irving‘s late 3-pointer, LeBron James’ chase-down block and Kevin Love‘s defensive work won it for the Cavs in Game 7.
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That spoiled the first unanimous MVP season in history by Stephen Curry and gave the Warriors a dubious place in NBA history.