Fansided

Every NBA team’s arch-nemesis

By Paul Centopani

JUNE 2, 1985: The Lakers Michael Cooper, center, pushes the Celtics Ray Williams away from Kurt Rambis, second from right, after Williams and Rambis crashed into the seats along the sideline during Game 3 of the 1985 NBA Finals. The Lakers won, 136-111, to take a 2-1 lead in the series. 6/2/85 (Photo by Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
JUNE 2, 1985: The Lakers Michael Cooper, center, pushes the Celtics Ray Williams away from Kurt Rambis, second from right, after Williams and Rambis crashed into the seats along the sideline during Game 3 of the 1985 NBA Finals. The Lakers won, 136-111, to take a 2-1 lead in the series. 6/2/85 (Photo by Los Angeles Times via Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /

Clippers: Four decades of baggage

Similar to the Nets, the Clippers hold second place in the mind’s eye of their city with the added facet of the Donald Sterling regime of racism and frugality layered on top.

Owners dictate the fate of a franchise. Good or bad, the direction a team goes starts at the top. The new leadership has done a great job since taking over in 2014, but 33 years of bad juju is hard to shake.

Kings: Being California’s forgotten child

The NBA hosts four California teams and the Kings supposedly play in the state’s supposed capital. I don’t believe it though. Is Sacramento even a real place? Doubtful. I’ve only heard about it on TV and I’m willing to bet neither you or anyone you know has ever been there.

Suns: Rule No. 12, Section VII, Subsection C

The rule states players not in the game must remain in the immediate vicinity of their bench during an altercation, with violators facing suspensions and fines. The NBA established it in reaction to the Malice at the Palace, curbing the chances a fight would ever escalate into the stands again.

In the waning moments of Game 4 in the 2007 Western Conference Semi-Finals, Robert Horry hip-checked Steve Nash into the scorer’s table, eliciting Boris Diaw and Amare Stoudemire to run over to Nash’s side. Common sense dictated they left the bench to help their teammate. Unfortunately for Phoenix, we don’t live in a common sense world. The NBA hit them both with one-game suspensions and the Suns lost the next two games.

This was the year Dallas fell as the No. 1 seed to the We Believe Warriors, so the road to the conference title flowed through the desert. San Antonio went on to make quick work of Utah and swept a woefully disadvantaged Cleveland team.

Interpreting a rule by the exact letter of the law erased the Suns’ best-ever chance at seizing a title. It’s all been downhill from there.

Warriors: Meeting their day of reckoning

No matter how mighty, every empire eventually falls. Visigoths destroyed Rome, the Incas had conquistadors, and for the Warriors, it’s getting ravaged by injuries. Players constantly tightrope the delicate coil of injury luck and the past playoffs brought cruel and unusual punishment Golden State’s way.

DeMarcus Cousins tore his quad in Round 1. Then Kevin Durant went down in the semis with a strained calf only to rush back and shred his Achilles in the Finals. Finally, Klay Thompson tore his ACL in the championship-deciding Game 6. Their magnificent run over the past five seasons will be remembered just as fondly as their level of misfortune of the last two months.

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