It was exciting to see my Golden State Warriors start the NBA playoffs with a straight 4-0 series win over the Trailblazers.  In the next round when they repeated the 4-0 streak it was exhilarating.. Even when they beat Spurs in the first couple of home games, getting a 2-0 lead, it seemed like we’re getting a strong footing for the series.. getting us on a strong footing to meet the Cavs in the finals and avenge last year’s devastating loss.

But when we won the third game at the Spurs home field and got a 3-0 lead something felt off.  We had won 11 games in a row in the finals.  This was not like the regular season where we were playing regular teams.  This was in NBA’s western conference finals.  We were playing the cream of the crop.  And demolishing everyone in our path.  And no one had been able to pick up a single game.  What the hell was going on?

And to top it off, on the other side of the country, our arch nemesis – the Cavs were bulldozing through the titans that were in the eastern conference finals.  They had not dropped a single game on that end.  Most recently they had humiliated the Celtics with a 44-point defeat, while playing in Boston.  I can’t imagine being a Celtics fan watching that game.  From the very first quarter they had an almost 2:1 score against the Bostonians, at one point having a 50 point lead.  You’d have thought this was early in the regular season where a top seeded team was playing an inexperienced crew.  But this was the best team in the eastern conference playing the second best.

The Cavs and the Warriors have not dropped a single game in the playoffs on either side of the country.  I’m excited to see what will happen when they meet.  But it does make me wonder what the hell is going on in the NBA?  How is there such a disparity between the top two teams and the rest?

Is this capitalism at work?  Are the Cavs and the Warriors creating dynasties by simply paying top dollar to accumulate talent.

A quick search showed me that the Cavs were indeed the team that spent the most on their talent (http://hoopshype.com/salaries/).  But they were not paying their players that much higher than the other teams in the top.  E.g. the Trailblazers, the #2 team in terms of compensation, had paid their players 8% less than what the Cavs had paid.  And the #5 team, the Spurs, were paying their players 13% less than what the Cavs were shelling out.  So not that much of a difference between the compensations meted out by the top teams.  Nothing to justify the slaughter that was being observed in the playoffs.

Cleveland Cavs – $128M player salariesPortland Trailblazers – $119MDetroit – $115MLA Clippers – $114MSan Antonio Spurs – $112MMemphis – $110MToronto Raptors – $108MGolden State Warriors – $107MOrlando – $104MCharlotte – $103M

And on the other hand the Warriors were actually not even in the top five (were at #8).  A few of the teams that they had crushed/were crushing in the playoffs were actually paying their players more than the Warriors (i.e. The Trailblazers were paying their players 11% more than the Warriors, and the Spurs were paying 4% more).

So its not capitalism at play.  Something else is at work.  I’m not sure what it is.. But am curious to find out…