Last night the Golden State Warriors won game two of the 2016 NBA Finals. They are playing the Cleveland Cavaliers in a seven game series to determine who is this year’s champion.
Last year it was these same two teams in this same position. The Warriors ended up with the trophy and through two games this year things aren’t looking too good for Cleveland.
The Warriors have rolled through the first two games winning by an average of 24 points. (At least if I did my math right. 15 in game one and 33 in game two.)
But this isn’t a blog about sports. I really don’t care much whether the Splash brothers (Steph Curry and Klay Thompson) make it two championships in a row or whether LeBron and company get things figured out and find a way to win.
Instead I’m interested in a concept that I’ve noticed through the first two games. Something that I think we all may do well to consider in numerous areas of life.
We Don’t Go Alone
The concept is basically this, we are not alone, even if we think we are, we are not alone.
The first game of this year’s finals saw the two stars, the Splash brothers of the Warriors having a rather off night. Due in no small part to the Cavs focusing a lot of defensive pressure on them.
Combined the Splash brothers were only able to manage 20 points. That’s 20 points between them. Usually without both Klay and Steph being around 20 points each you’d have a hard time imagining them winning the game.
The difference in the game came in the form of help from the ”non standard stars” – everyone else on the team really showed up. There were 4 Golden State players who showed up and scored more points than either Stephen or Klay.
There is no doubt in my mind, without the added support and spark from the rest of the team the first game would have definitely gone to the Cavs.
Game two went some better for both Klay and Steph. But again, they got huge support in the form of Draymond Green.
So uhh… whats this got to do with anything?
Its easy for me to forget at times that we all have team mates. Which is unfortunate, because if I hope to win, whether I’m having a good day or a bad day… it’ll likely come down to the people around me.
This team concept is pretty easy to see, whether we are talking about work or church or family, there are those around us who are pulling with us. Perhaps more importantly at times they are pulling for us.
Without them we would very seldom win and winning would be much less enjoyable.
Wrapping Up
Again, I don’t want to turn this into a sports blog. 🙂 That would be a disaster. However I am fascinated by the way teams work together and how incredible athletes approach the game entirely differently, often with entirely different results.
Can Lebron and Irving turn things around for this years finals? Perhaps, if they can get some things figured out. And not give up. (I thought Stephen A, who I don’t always agree with, said it well.)
Anyway, I better wrap this up and go be a team mate at work.
Happy Monday!