Warriors Remain Relentlessly Unmoved by Misfortune

The Golden State Warriors celebrated their first championship in 40 years by being condemned as "lucky" because they stayed healthy when most of their competitors did not. They missed 34 man-games to injury and/or rest, fewer than any other contender by a significant amount, and this was cited as one of the ways that the Warriors didn't actually win the title as the other training rooms lost them.
 
This is, of course, idiocy of the first magnitude, As we have lectured before, "luck" of this kind is like any other form of luck – it is to be welcomed, no matter how much it may offend people who prefer their sports to be conceptual rather than real.
 
Put another way, there are no asterisks on the trophy in Joe Lacob's foyer.
 
That argument cannot be made this year – well, it can, but not if you want to be correct.
 
Jordan Bell's ankle issue is the latest annoyance in a season of them, and the Warriors' core rotational players have missed a higher percentage of games this year than in any of the other three (15 percent, rather than five in 2015, eight in 2016 and 10 in 2017).
 
What this means is that their superior depth is being challenged as never before, but that's really all it means. They endure the loss of one of their main players quite well, in fact. Without Stephen Curry, they are 12-3, 14-4 over the past two seasons and 20-6 through three; without Kevin Durant, 7-1 this year 25-5 over the last two; without Draymond Green, 7-0, 12-1. Only Klay Thompson (0-1 this year, 1-3 last year, 6-6 since 2015) seems to bother them.
 
That's 52-16 without at least one member of the Gang of Four.
 
But it does mean few minutes and games off for Andre Iguodala and David West and Shaun Livingston, and more minutes than ever for Kevon Looney. It plays a bit of mischief with Steve Kerr's rotations, but he's an adult and has an army of fellow thinkers to make any required adjustments.
 
In short, waste no worry, pity or scorn on them. They remain relentlessly unmoved by misfortune or pain.
 
But at least this year, they're having some of each, if only to silence those who still want to think, if only for their own amusement, that things have been improperly easy for them.