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OK, first, let's never talk about those Western Conference finals, or playoffs, really, ever again. The minute Kawhi Leonard went down, it was a waste of our time. Not just because the Spurs were so drastically outmatched, but because it robbed us of being able to make any conclusions at any point about either team. There was nothing to learn about either team. The Warriors are dominant, which we knew, and the Spurs without Leonard cannot beat them, which we knew. The Warriors are a great team, which we knew, and the Spurs without Leonard are an incredibly limited one, especially without Tony Parker, which we knew. 

That's all there is to say. 

So now we get to the meat of the thing. The Golden State Warriors, villains, heroes, wonder-team, albatross, the squad too big to fail, have reached the NBA Finals ... again. They are the Western Conference champions, and history will eventually forget Jusuf Nurkic's injury, George HIll's injury, Kawhi Leonard's injury, and to be fair, those might not have mattered in the end result. But all history will see is 12-0, the first team to ever sweep the West. They have the best net point differential per 100 possessions in NBA history for a playoff run. They are without blemish, and four wins away from validation for Kevin Durant, and redemption for the Warriors.

Durant's situation is fascinating. On the one hand, he's back to the Finals after three failures in the Western Conference finals since 2012. Regardless of the outcome of the Finals, he already feels that he made the right decision. For Durant, in his bubble, in the small world that surrounds him, this is a joyous moment. He's a favorite in the NBA Finals for the first time. He's been unleashed in Golden State. This isn't his best season -- or the best he's ever been -- because to be that, you have to do the most, and he doesn't have to do the most. But everything Durant does with Golden State is nearly flawless. Shot selection. Shot making. Passing. Defense. 

Durant may not be the most important Warrior. There may, honestly, not be a most important Warrior, with how much talent they have. But Durant is the best player, and while the context of his decision may impact how those on the outside view his potential triumph, internally, he is playing great basketball with a team he clearly loves and if he wins the title and Finals MVP, he gets to claim that No. 1 spot he's been chasing so long as the Best Player On Earth, even if so many will attach an asterisk because of how he got there. There are no asterisks when you look in the mirror. 

For Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and the rest of the Warriors, it's a time for celebration. The talk will be of "enjoying the moment" or "the process," as ESPN's Jalen Rose put it. And they deserve to. Beating the Spurs, in four games no less, even without Kawhi Leonard, is hard. The Warriors did not make it look hard, but that, too, is a testament to how great of a team they are. They accomplished something worth celebrating Monday night. 

That said ... you could tell watching them on-court and in the post-game pressers that they have one thing on their minds. Revenge. They are four, sweet wins from what they really want. Validation. Redemption. More than anything, honestly, revenge. It's why all the talk about this not being a rivalry is foolish. This is personal between these teams. If the Celtics were to pull off a miracle and win the conference finals, they might take Game 1 of the Finals without Isaiah Thomas just because the Warriors would be so depressed. The Joker is not looking to beat Green Arrow. He wants Batman, and he wants him broken at his feet. 

That's the Warriors. 

(Or, maybe they're Count of Monte Cristo and LeBron is Danglars. It depends on where you stand.) 

There's joy in this moment, but not rapture. It never feels the same to go through unthreatened, to dominate without limitation, instead of having to truly overcome adversity. The Warriors have faced no adversity in these playoffs, and if they ever face it, it may come as a shock, unfamiliar and stark, like falling into cold water. 

(Or maybe they'll just roll through the Cavs, too. That's entirely possible; this team is insanely good.) 

But if you're looking to disparage Golden State's accomplishment, let's be clear on this point, and it is what I come back to time and time again regardless of who plays who and when...

You play who's in front of you. 

The Warriors didn't get to choose to play Kawhi Leonard. (Yes, yes, I know, Zaza Pachulia literally injured him; if you want to go down conspiracy lane, go to it, but it's not like it was a mastermind plot with Draymond Green giving Pachulia such instructions, probably). They played the Spurs, without Tony Parker, and then Leonard went down, and they played the Spurs without Leonard. That's who was in front of them, and they beat who was in front of them. Yes, we can talk about what might have happened and those questions are truly interesting given how San Antonio has played them this year at full strength. But they did not play them at full strength. They played them without Leonard, and they swept them. That is a fact, and it is what happened. 

The Warriors don't deserve an asterisk, even if one gets applied. And they aren't over-hyping this result, either. They're finding that middle ground, between acknowledging and enjoying achievement, and recognizing the context of where they are, and what the goal is. 

This season has not been "special." The 2015-16 season was special. The 2014-15 season was special. This has been business. And that's OK. You don't get to decide how it feels, and all that magic that the Warriors created last year led to a result that earned them the most brutal set of public mockery ever unleashed on a single team. The Atlanta Falcons' Super Bowl lead has nothing on 3-1. 

There's who the Warriors are, and there's how we experience them. If you're not a Golden State fan, we experience them as inevitability drawn to its furthest edge, the depravation of competition and uncertainty. We know the outcome, we're just watching to see how bloody the horror film is. But that does not change who the Warriors are. 

They are a team drawn from great drafting, expert scouting, excellent player development, incredible coaching and supreme talent. 

They are efficient, focused, disciplined, precise, devastating and in the moment of a highlight, truly thrilling. 

The Warriors are an elite team, not just this year, but historically, and have just capped off the most dominant Western Conference finals run, regardless of opponent, in NBA history. 

And they're Western Conference champions. 

There's work to be done, there's revenge to be had, there's an actual, maybe, possible challenge on the horizon in a familiar foe who crushed their dreams so badly they went out and got the second-best player in the league. But for right now, we have the Warriors, the best of the West, staking their claim to history, no matter how hard it may be to stay awake for their coronation.