Warriors talked too much too soon

The Golden State Warriors drunk too much of their own Kool-Aid. The Warriors became too intoxicated with their own hype and self-shimmy ways. Sometimes too much talking can come back and bite you right smack in the rear end.

After all that talk they have been doing the past two seasons, especially the last couple of weeks about how great they are in their own eyes, the Warriors choked away a 3-1, best-of-seven series lead to fall to  LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in a rematch of last year’s NBA Finals.

The final scoreboard reading had it Cavaliers 4, Warriors 3.

While the Warriors were too busy running their collective mouths, the Cavaliers kept their traps quiet and played ball. LeBron, Kyrie Irving and the rest of the Cavaliers gave Steph Curry and the rest of the Warriors the business on their own home court.

They did it twice, including busting the Warriors’ pompous bubble with a Game 7, series-deciding 93-89 win at Oracle Arena.

The Cavaliers are the champs. The Warriors are now the chumps. Last year, the Warriors celebrated on Cleveland’s home floor, winning that series from LeBron and his boys, 4-2. Cleveland, by winning its first major title since 1964, handed the Warriors their hats by beating them three games in a row.

That’s a feat that’s never been done before in NBA History. Until now. LeBron James can now take a bow. Curry, the Warriors and all that ridiculous noise they were making, can go somewhere and sit down.

Losing after being up 3-1, is the same storyline the Warriors went up against in the Western Conference Finals, when they came back to beat Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder. People say Durant and the Thunder choked away that series.

You can make that same unflattering argument against the Warriors, who went 73-9 during the regular season. The Warriors placed blame on the absence of forward Draymond Green for losing Game 5, casted a whining finger at officials for dropping Game 6.

After losing Game 7, the Warriors are officially out of excuses. They blinked, and the Cavaliers came back and kicked their butts the old-fashion way. The Cavaliers got physical. They beat up the Warriors. In the end, the Cavaliers ripped the Warriors’ hearts out.

The Cavs took the championship from Golden State. The Splash Brothers and the Warriors are all dried up after shooting just 38 percent from the floor in the last game of the season.

With that being said, the Warriors will be linked with the 2007 New England Patriots football team that went undefeated during the regular season but came up short in Super Bowl XL II against the New York Giants. The Warriors couldn’t close the deal. That’s because Cleveland would not let them.

In real life, we call it karma. In the world of sports, it’s all about shut up and play. The Warriors sold a whole bunch of wolf tickets during this series by ignorantly comparing themselves to all-time great NBA teams of the past.

With only one NBA title under their belts, the Warriors foolishly entertained this notion while in the midst of their NBA Finals 2016 battle with LeBron and the Cavs.

Warriors guard Klay Thompson even went out on a limb with his arrogant and ill-advised take that his Warriors are an improvement over the Magic Johnson Showtime Los Angeles Lakers.

“We are better than the Showtime Lakers,” said Thompson after Game 2.

Adding salt to the wounds of an almost broken Cavaliers’ team, Thompson went out of his way to make fun of LeBron James’ actions in the woes of a Warriors’ 108-97 Game 4 win in Cleveland.

“Guys talk trash in this league all the time. I’m just kind of shocked some guys take it so personal,” Thompson said. “I don’t know how [James] feels. But obviously people have feelings, and people’s feelings get hurt even if they’re called a bad word.

“I guess his [ James] feelings just got hurt. I mean, we’ve all been called plenty of bad words on the basketball court before. Some guys just react to it differently. All I can say for myself individually, I just try to ignore it or just let it fuel the fire, but I don’t carry it with me when the job is done. ”

The problem with Thompson’s poor choice of words were two-fold. On one-hand, talking such nonsense while you’re playing another team in the middle of a seven-game series was straight up idiotic and plain disrespectful to the Cavaliers.

Secondly, you don’t give the enemy fuel for fire. There’s no doubt that Thompson gave the Cavs that little extra motivated push with his smack. Thompson’s father, Mychal Thompson, who played on those famous Lakers teams, piled on the gamesmanship chatter by saying LeBron James acted “entitled.”

Mychal Thompson must be speaking on the issue of mistaken identity. Being “entitled” don’t get you a trip to the NBA Finals for six years in a row, which LeBron James has done. You certainly are not voted as the NBA’s regular season Most Valuable Player four times if you have an “entitled” mentally.

I wonder what daddy Thompson has to say now that son Klay and his Warriors’ teammates are one-and-done champs? It’s kind of quiet in Oakland. Speak up, Mychal. Whenever you’re ready, speak your mind and tell us how you really feel after getting the snot beat out of you the last three games, Klay.

That braggadocious attitude the Warriors have come from the top as well. Golden State owner Joe Lacob said earlier this season that his team was “light years” ahead of other NBA teams. Who sounds like they’re entitled?

Instead of wrapping themselves up in bodacious joy, the Warriors now feel pain. They deserve it, too. Instead of celebrating their wonderful accomplishments the Warriors have been left reeling from what could have been. This is what happens when you talk too much smack and can’t back it up.

Didn’t we see this lesson play out with Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50? Well, apparently the Warriors don’t study their history books too well.

Dennis J. Freeman / News4usonline

Dennis has covered and written about politics, crime, social justice, sports, and entertainment. Dennis currently covers the NFL, MLB, NBA, NCAA, and Olympic sports. Dennis is the editor of News4usonline.com and serves as the publisher of the Compton Bulletin newspaper. He earned a journalism degree from Howard University.