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After erasing a 23-point lead in less than a half to stun the Spurs in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals, the Warriors, you could argue, got pretty lucky … again. Not because they erased that 23-point lead, the third largest comeback in playoff history -- they do that kind of thing all the time, pretty routinely, in fact -- but because, of course, they only did so after Kawhi Leonard left the game early in the third quarter after what looked like a pretty nasty ankle turn.

Now Gregg Popovich says Kawhi is expected to miss Game 2.

Man, are the "Warriors get lucky again" birds about to start singing.

I'm not one of them.

Our Matt Moore outlined all the strokes of "good fortune" by which the Warriors have been blessed during this three-year run that has included more wins than any other team in NBA history over such a span. To recap, it looks something like this:

Matt also went on to point out all the front office things that have broken the Warriors' way -- namely them getting Stephen Curry on a positively clearance-rack deal because of his, at the time, balky ankles. We'll get to that in a minute. For starters, let's look up at that list of injuries. Can we all agree that three of these four examples are moot? The Grizzlies, Rockets or Blazers weren't going to beat the Warriors whether those guys were 100 percent or not. The 2015 Finals is something different. You could very easily make the argument that the Cavs, with Love and Irving healthy, could've beaten Golden State. Hell, they won two games without them.

However, that all evened out last year, as on that list you'll notice no mention of 2016, when the Warriors, of course, played more playoff games without their best player than any team that had ever made it to the Finals. Doesn't seem like terrific luck to me to have your best player, who had been remarkably healthy over recent years, come up hobbled just as you're trying to finish off the single greatest season in NBA history. Doesn't seem like great luck to have Draymond Green suspended when you're one win from finishing that said greatest season ever, or to be without Andrew Bogut for the final three games of the Finals, all of which you lose. Doesn't seem like great luck to be playing without your coach because a pretty basic back surgery turned into a two-year nightmare that still isn't over. Now Andre Iguodala might be out for the foreseeable future this year, which might not hurt against the Spurs but will definitely hurt when the Warriors almost certainly face the Cavs, as Iguodala would be the main LeBron defender for extended, and the most important, stretches. 

Listen, I know the Warriors have, on paper, had a lot of things go their way in the creation of this budding dynasty. In getting back to Curry's contract, it's true, that set everything up. Allowed them to keep Draymond Green and Klay Thompson on near-max deals. Allowed them to pay Kevin Durant. But it's also true that every team that has ever become great, in any sport, can be traced back to a "lucky" break.

The Bulls don't become the Bulls if the Trail Blazers don't decide to take Sam Bowie ahead of Michael Jordan. The Spurs don't become the Spurs if they don't almost miraculously end up with the No. 1 pick -- with a good team in place that turned in a 20-62 record because of, shall we say, "timely" injuries to David Robinson and Sean Elliott -- the year that Tim Duncan just happens to be in the draft. Speaking of No. 1 picks, the Cavs got three of them in four years. Throw in the year they got LeBron, and their current team is basically the result of four completely random bounces of a bunch of ping pong balls. The Warriors, meanwhile, are built on the backs of a No. 7 pick, a No. 11 pick and a No. 35 pick.

So, once and for all, stop talking about luck.

Well, let me rephrase. Stop talking about good luck. If you want to talk about bad luck, we can definitely go there, because there's a lot of that going around in the NBA right now, and it's landing square on the shoulders of the fans. They're the ones who lose most with these injuries. If we're being honest, the Spurs were a longshot to beat the Warriors four times -- with or without Leonard. This probably doesn't change the almost preordained destination of this season being a Cavs-Warriors Finals, it merely changes the journey of getting there. And the journey is all the fans have got.

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Kawhi Leonard's injury hurts the fans, as well as the Spurs. USATSI

This, if you ask me, is the unfortunate reality of a super-team league. There are really only two teams that matter, three if you want to squeeze the Spurs into that conversation, and now we don't even get to watch them at full strength. The Warriors don't need to prove anything, but that doesn't mean the fans don't want to see, don't deserve to see, what was starting to look like an old-fashioned barnburner of a series. It would've been the first of its kind during these playoffs for the Warriors, who are still unbeaten in the postseason. Now there's a decent chance it's going to be another sweep. Maybe five if the Spurs are "lucky." 

Yawn.

I know the NBA is in a good place. There are more great players than the league has ever had at one time. Audience is up. Money is seemingly endless. And now they've got more dough coming with ads on jerseys. Which is why it's so frustrating that with all these great players, with all this money, we can only come up with two teams that really matter. Even this Wizards-Celtics seven-game series, as Matt Moore so eloquently, and accurately, put it, feels like two goats fighting for the right to be dropped into the T-Rex pit.

I don't know how the NBA can become more like the NFL or MLB, both of which boast a parity that makes their respective playoffs a true crapshoot, and thus a wildly exciting experience for the fans. I only know that I wish it was like that. I am praying that the players get tired of this too and start aligning in a more equitable, and thus competitive, way. I desperately wanted Kevin Durant to go to Boston. I know it's his choice, and I don't fault him for the route he went. But in my opinion, the fans are suffering for the elimination of yet another competitive team (OKC) just to add to an already great team. So, Paul George, Blake Griffin, how's Houston or Washington sound? Chris Paul, what about San Antonio or back to New Orleans? Russell Westbrook, feel like heading up to Minnesota? 

Give us four or five teams that could reasonably compete with the elite, and then, come playoff time, we wouldn't be so dependent on the one series that is finally starting to look interesting providing all of our pre-Finals entertainment. As it is, this feels like watching "Titanic." We know how it ends. The only intrigue for the audience is to enjoy the story of getting there. Suffice it to say, the story of these playoffs has been pretty lame. Two teams yet to suffer even a single loss. The one team that possibly could've delivered that loss now suffering its own loss. If there is any luck in this conversation, that's it. And it's not the good kind. For anyone.