Steve Kerr claims that Golden State Warriors five back-to-back finals trip won’t be repeated

It's already six weeks into the NBA playoffs, and it's evident that Golden State Warriors' five consecutive trips to the Finals, during which they won three titles, were impressive at the moment but appear even more historic in time. The Warriors might be the last team in the NBA to accomplish such a feat.

According to NBC Sports, Steve's coach stated, “I think it's highly unlikely.” Golden State Warriors are not just the last team to win back-to-back NBA Finals, but also the last to make consecutive Finals appearances.

The whole thing has changed every year since 2019 when the Golden State Warriors fell to the Toronto Raptors in its fifth consecutive Finals appearance. With the current champion Denver Nuggets and their 2023 Finals counterpart Miami Heat both eliminated from the playoffs, two very different teams will face off next month.

“I think the run last season and coming back and the number of minutes that our starters had to play,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said after the Game 7 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, “I think mentally, emotionally (and) physically, guys are gassed. They're dead tired.

In the 2022/23 NBA Season Denver Nuggets started training on 27th September 2022 and lasted till 12th June 2023. In almost nine months they were the champion of the NBA. Meanwhile this season, they couldn’t even make it to the Conference Finals as they were eliminated in Semi-final by the Minnesota Timberwolves. This also goes the same for 2021 NBA Champions Milwaukee Bucks as they couldn’t pass the playoffs round where the Indiana Pacers defeated them.

Everybody is building their team to beat you - Steve Kerr

The Los Angeles Lakers who were NBA Champions in 2020 couldn’t make it to the semi-final as Denver Nuggets crushed them by 4-1 in the playoff series. 

"The first thing you realize is everybody is building their team to beat you,” Steve Kerr said. “They're not just gunning for you. They're literally building their team to beat you. (Denver’s Nikola) Jokic even said it after the loss. He said, ‘That team is built to beat us.’ If (the Timberwolves) don't have all three of those 7-footers, I don't think they will win Game 7 or that series.

Los Angeles Lakers appeared in three consecutive NBA Finals (2008-10), winning two. The Miami Heat won two of their four consecutive games from 2011 to 2014. The Warriors reached five (2015-19). It was as if one squad passed the baton to the next over a 12-year span.