With sports stopped due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and "The Last Dance" sucking up all the oxygen in the sports world, fans and pundits have been left to debate great teams and player's place in the history of the game.
The Warriors' dynasty has been a constant in such debates, being compared to Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls with many wondering if Kevin Durant and Steph Curry could topple His Airness and the 72-win Bulls.
But another debate has quietly emerged thanks to an Instagram Live chat between Curry and Dwyane Wade. One focusing on Curry's Dubs and the Miami Heat's Big Three era led by Wade and LeBron James.
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Chris Bosh, the third member of the Heatles, did an Instagram Live Q&A Tuesday. When asked about the Heat's place in the pantheon of NBA history, Bosh noted his belief the Warriors hold a higher place than South Beach's favorite sons.
"I was thinking about our place in the history of the game and all that stuff," Bosh said, via The Sun-Sentinel. "I even think the Warriors had more of a dynasty. I think ours was, you know the band Cream, from the UK? We're more like Cream."
"We were more like Cream, 'Ah, we'll come together. We'll play. We'll put this mega-thing together, four years, and four years only, baby ... It was just a crazy time," Bosh said. "It's crazy to even think I went through that."
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Golden State Warriors
Undoubtedly, Bosh is correct.
The Warriors' run to five straight NBA Finals is in rarified air, along with James' personal streak of eight straight Finals appearances between the Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers. Curry, Durant, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala formed one of the most feared lineups in NBA history. It was a collection of talent the likes of which the NBA had never seen and likely will never see again. And, let's not forget how dominant the Warriors were in the dynasty's beginning stages, winning one title and then a record 73 games in the two years before Durant's arrival.
James, Wade and Bosh were a spectacle, no doubt. They became one of the NBA's most loathed teams in history the second they teamed up and James proclaimed they might win eight titles. The Heatles were a fun, hectic, high-speed train that made you hold your breath any time they got out in the open floor. After winning the 2012 NBA title, James began to reach the peak of his powers and the Heat were a bulldozer the next season.
But as good as they were, the Heat always felt beatable. Paul George's Indiana Pacers drew blood during every Eastern Conference playoffs showdown. Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett almost ended the Heat's run before it got off the ground. Had it not been for James' superhuman Game 6 in the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals, the Heatles would look more like The Fray than Cream.
At their best the Warriors were unstoppable. Their only true enemy was boredom, believing they could fall into a massive hole and erase it with a snap of their fingers. And they could.
While the Heat needed Ray Allen to hit one of the greatest shots in NBA history to help them win their second title, it took a confluence of injuries and bad luck to stop the Warriors from winning four titles in five years. With a healthy Durant, there's no question the Warriors would have beat the Toronto Raptors in the 2019 NBA Finals, completed their threepeat and cemented their dynasty as one for the ages.
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James, Wade and Bosh's Heat mesmerized and thrilled us. We lived to watch them take flight and overwhelm teams with their immense talent. But we also wanted to watch them fail. To see how a team of basketball's best, manufactured by the NBA's superfriends, would fall even when overmatching their opponents.
With the Warriors, it was the opposite. When watching Curry, Durant and Thompson dissect defenses with an arsenal of offensive moves you felt as if you were watching greatness. Something you'd remember and recount for your kids and grandkids while the "Who was better?" debate of that era rages on. The Warriors were special. A dynastic power the likes of which won't be seen again.