The rivalry between The Cleveland Cavaliers and The Golden State Warriors was the dominant headline of the NBA for 4 years; every one of those years marked with the same NBA Finals matchup as well.

June 8th 2018 saw the Warriors lift the trophy for the third time in 4 years, in a powerful 108 to 85 victory sweeping the Cavaliers as everyone predicted would happen. The dominance of the Warriors franchise is nothing new however, as they have had 4 all-star levels in their starting lineup with the arrival of Kevin Durant in 2016; marking the beginning of the Warriors dynasty.

“It’s absolutely unfair,” sophomore Braden Barnett said. “They’ve been dominating for years now, it’s becoming boring.”

Despite their dominance in the past few seasons, there are teams that have come close to defeating the Warriors, evident in the Western Conference Finals where the Houston Rockets forced it to be a 7-game series, but missed a historic 27 three pointers marking the most three pointers missed by any team in the NBA.

Since then, their competition has significantly gotten stronger with an already stacked Western Conference having Lebron James sign with the Los Angeles Lakers, which sparked hope in McLean’s NBA fans in a more competitive playoffs this year.

“I genuinely believe that the Warriors are not guaranteed their spot in the finals this year,” junior Mahd Zafar said.

This hope is caused by the fact that the Warriors have been having a lot of difficulties this season against other Western Conference teams. In fact, they currently stand at 33 wins to 14 losses, which even though is a amazing record, does not parallel their 73-9 season; The Denver Nuggets are closing in on them as well being second at 31-15 putting the pressure on the Warriors.

James Harden has also significantly challenged the dominance of the Warriors, putting up unprecedented numbers seeing him average 36.3 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 8.3 assists per game this season per NBA.com. He also receives mixed messages on his methods.

“He gets away with blatant travels and gets way too many fouls,” Barnett said.

Another player who is receiving mixed messages of both support and hatred is all-star caliber center Demarcus Cousins who also signed with the Warriors. Ever since his torn achilles tendon last year, some claim that his abilities will greatly diminish while others believe he will continue to play at the level he used to, and it is currently uncertain whether or not Cousins will have a positive impact on his new team.

For now, the best we can do as NBA fans is to sit back and watch how the Warriors will be able to maintain their dynasty amongst emerging dominant teams.

“All in all, the NBA has become and is continuing to be more and more competitive,” junior Evan Perrault said. “As sports fans, we will benefit no matter the outcome as NBA games will be and have been very enjoyable to watch compared to the unfairness of the Warriors dominance last year.”