The once lovable Golden State Warriors have rapidly become the villains of the National Basketball Association. Whether it’s by their peers, media members, basketball fans, or old school NBA players, the Dubs have obtained tons of hate within the past several months. The once lovable Warriors led by Davidson star Steph Curry have been called out for being either too cocky, arrogant, lucky, a combination of all of above, and even more.

Peers

Barnes on LeBronLeBron James and Kevin Love seldom give the Warriors any sort of respect after their NBA Finals victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers. Both players made remarks about injuries and said the outcome of the series would most likely be different if they had all their players.

Doc Rivers said that the Warriors were lucky they didn’t have to face the Spurs or the Clippers during the playoffs. The Clippers had a 3-1 lead against the Rockets, blew a double digit lead in the fourth quarter of Game 5, and choked the rest of the series away. Instead of focusing on his rivals so much, Rivers has to step up as General Manager and Coach to help his own team better.

Ty Lawson told Yahoo Sports that Steph Curry wasn’t doing much on the defensive end during the 2015 Playoffs.

“Steph Curry needed someone to go back at him,” Lawson told Yahoo Sports. “I thought Steph was just chillin’ on defense – and then going crazy on offense. He looked like he was just putting shots up and not working so much on the defensive end. He would just come down and hit three or four 3s. He can shoot when he’s got his legs under him.”

These comments were made before the season. Ironically enough, Curry is having one of the best seasons of all-time while Lawson is having his worst one yet of his seven-year career. He’s averaging 9.2 points on 34 percent shooting from the field and was just benched for Patrick Beverley.

Media Members

A Utah Jazz reporter recently accused Draymond Green and Steph Curry of disrespecting the Jazz after their game in Utah in the locker room. Green and Curry both fired back at the writer and denied any sort of trash talk in terms of what he posted on social media.

Prior to the Warriors winning it all, Sam Amico posted this on Twitter: “This will tick off uneducated NBA fans, but no way Warriors go anywhere special if they stay this soft & 3s focus of offense. No way. Ever.”

Just a few months later, they won the title. Of course he, along with many other media members said this wouldn’t have happened if the Cavaliers had Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love.

There are also certain Grizzlies and Rockets writers that love to discredit the Warriors at any chance they get. They have many Warriors fans blocked on their social media accounts, simply to avoid getting into debates when they know the subjectivity of their posts.

Colin Cowherd says the Warriors play a boring brand of basketball.

Generally, most media members appreciate the greatness that they are seeing before their eyes. Unfortunately, there will always be a few who like to spoil the ride.

Basketball Fans

The best part about all this hate? The players don’t mind it one bit.

Clippers and Rockets fans hated the Warriors the most before their title run. Those two teams were Golden State’s biggest rivals. While their envy remains strong, other fans of teams hate them too. With the constant attention from ESPN and other National Media trying to capture every moment of this enjoyable journey, this leaves tons jealously from everyone else.

Some go as far as to wishing for injuries upon players, which is as classless as it gets.

Old School NBA Players 

Ron Harper, Reggie Miller, Rick Barry, Charles Barkley (surprise) and many others have thrown shade at the Warriors ever since they became a top tier NBA team.

Harper was a part of the historical 72-win Chicago Bulls. The Warriors are on pace to break the record and win even more than 72 games after their remarkable 23-0 start. Regardless, Harper believes that the Bulls would sweep this current Dubs squad.

Bleacher Report had a quote from Reggie Miller come out on Wednesday where he claimed to be a better shooter than Steph Curry.

“All truly great shooters—Dale Ellis, Larry Bird, Craig Hodges, Chris Mullin—we always believed that we were the best shooters in the world,” said Miller. “So, yeah, I’d take down Steph at my peak. Sure, my form wasn’t as good as his. But it’s all about results, man.”

Like the Warriors being on pace to beat the 95-96 Bulls record, Curry is on the same track to become the best shooter of all-time, stats wise. He is already considered one of the best by many others.

Rick Barry has always been known as one of the best Warriors player of all-time. He was on the last Golden State championship team before 2015 and hasn’t exactly been praiseworthy of the new regime. He told a local radio station this past offseason that Draymond Green is not worth a max contract and that it would not be smart to do. He’s also said that Curry isn’t the best shooter of all-time and has implied that the Warriors of today just aren’t that impressive.

Charles Barkley continues to talk. Despite the Warriors having more playoff success than he ever did during his career, Barkley does not see them as a legitimate champion. He has gone on record saying that jump-shooting teams will never win a title and made every excuse in the book when the Dubs did end up winning it all. His new comments are that the Warriors would get dominated in the 90’s era of basketball and that he would do well against them.

Verdict

Stephen CurryESPN has given the Warriors their own separate header on the ticker they have on the bottom of the screen. The Associated Press constantly has updates in regards to how the Warriors are doing titled Warriors Watch: Chasing History. National TV is picking up their games left and right.

Riley and Ayesha Curry are more popular to the casual fan than half of the league is. Draymond Green’s mom is engaging on Twitter. Steph Curry is being name dropped in trendy hip-hop songs on the daily.

Other teams recognize history is being made, whether they like to admit it or not. A Sunday night game in Brooklyn is sold out because of Dubs. Every other sport in the region has become overshadowed by what the Warriors have brought to the table. Comcast SportsNet Bay Area is continuously having record breaking ratings due to the success of the team.

Kobe Bryant endured a tremendous amount of hate when he was the best player in the world. LeBron James had to go through it as well over the past five years and some. Steph Curry is falling into that category — he’s that good. People tend to dislike the best because of media sensationalism and simply because of the fact that he isn’t on their favorite team.

Warriors fans will have to learn to deal with it. The bandwagon is at an all-time high and so is the hate. It just comes with the territory. They are the league villains in the eyes of many and they embrace what they league thinks of them. They are the best show in the world and no amount of hate will change that.

 

2 Responses

  1. YackingYak

    Let’s talk about something else then… how about them 76ers…

  2. TheBigKitty

    The media picks sides. In politics and sports. If something does not fit the narrative it is pooh-poohed