The Golden State Warriors won an NBA record 73 games this season. But now that Golden State trails the Oklahoma City Thunder 3-1, these words appearing in early April in the New York Times Magazine from Warriors owner Joe Lacob are resurfacing in a karmic way.
"We've crushed them on the basketball court, and we're going to for years because of the way we've built this team," Lacob said. "We're light-years ahead of probably every other team in structure, in planning, in how we're going to go about things. We're going to be a handful for the rest of the NBA to deal with for a long time."
If you believe in jinxes, there's a solid case to be made that Lacob's comments jinxed Golden State. The Warriors were 68-7 when the New York Times published Lacob's "light-years ahead" interview. The Warriors have been 14-7 since.
"The arrogance is bothersome, along with the flat-out ridiculousness in saying the Warriors are so far ahead of every other organization in the league," wrote FOXSports.com columnist Michael Pina. "Yes, they're highly intelligent and accomplished. But no franchise will ever outsmart luck. Steph Curry slipping on a wet spot against the Houston Rockets and spraining his MCL? Draymond Green hurting his ankle in Game 5 against the Portland Trail Blazers?
"There's no getting around injuries, or having your best player drown in an inexplicable shooting slump.
"It's always better to be humble and gracious, particularly in a field like professional sports, where so many factors outside any person's control can influence who wins and loses. Lacob may have to find this out the hard way."
Run over
Michigan running back Drake Johnson was run over by a forklift in a bizarre accident last month at the Wolverines' indoor track building, according to reports earlier this week.
The Detroit Free Press and Detroit News, citing information obtained from public-records requests, said the forklift driver felt a bump and thought he'd run over a starting block. He then realized he'd run over Johnson, who was on the floor stretching.
The incident occurred April 13. Coach Jim Harbaugh said on a Big Ten teleconference that Johnson was "doing well" and that it didn't appear he would miss much time, but he did not go into specifics about what happened.
No word if Johnson received any advice from former St. Louis Cardinals speedster Vince Coleman, who was run over by the automated tarpaulin in 1985 prior to the fourth game of the National League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
I'm sorry
Stephen A. Smith apologized to "all Canada, Canadians everywhere" for predicting that the Raptors would lose Monday.
Wrote Janice Hough of leftcoastsportsbabe.com: "Now, when is he going to apologize to Americans everywhere for being Stephen A. Smith?"
Sports on 05/26/2016