For all but 10 celebratory days over 21 years, the Warriors spun a web of despair around themselves and their fans. Coaches and players, many disguised as rescuers, came and went, like cans of beer at a tailgate. Defeat was both expected and inevitable.
It changed on June 16, 2015 in Cleveland, at Quicken Loans Arena, the place they will visit Wednesday night. That’s where the Warriors shed the misery that for so long defined them, rinsing away the failures of the past with gallons of champagne and the sweetest sweat in sports.
The Warriors were, at long last, champions, confirming the end of the old Warriors.