Barber: Run-up to Warriors-Cavaliers III lacks suspense

The question separated Kevin Durant and Draymond Green from their vocabularies and made them resort to sound effects.

Before the reporter had even finished her question, Durant let go with a long, gusty exhale - “pheeeewwwww” - then went full R2-D2, with a “sssssssss” followed by a “zzzzzzzzz.” Green jumped in to add, “Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.”

For the record, that was eight “blahs” for Green, who had just left the court with 17 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists. So close to a quadruple-double.

It was postgame in Salt Lake City on Monday. The Warriors had just wrapped up a four-game sweep of the Jazz in the wake of a four-game sweep of the Trail Blazers, and a lot of people in Sportsland were suggesting that the 2017 NBA playoffs had become a yawn-fest. Durant and Green apparently were more bored by the line of questioning than by the postseason, which is natural.

Still, the Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers each are 8-0 in the playoffs, and both will be heavy favorites in their respective conference finals in the next round. If both advance, it will be the first time in history that the same teams will have played in the NBA Finals in three consecutive years.

We’ve seen history made here the past few years, with Golden State’s 24-0 start and 73-9 overall record in 2015-16, and with Stephen Curry’s unanimous MVP vote to cap that season. Warriors-Cavs III would be another significant milestone.

But it is worth it? Does it justify a postseason obstacle course that is more Fun Run than Marine Corps basic training?

To those in and around the Warriors organization, the answer seems to be a clear “yes.” People keep asking them about it, and they keep answering in the manner of broadcaster Jim Barnett during his segment with WJBX in Fort Myers, Florida, on Thursday.

“I think it’s very good. I think it’s exciting,” Barnett said. “And I thought that the eighties, when you had Boston and Los Angeles going at it, essentially every other year, was the most exciting era of basketball. That decade was terrific.”

This is the rivalry most frequently offered up as a comparison to Warriors-Cavaliers, and the association is tantalizing. The Celtics of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish faced the Lakers of Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy three times in four years between 1984 and 1987, and their battles were epic. One of their finals went seven games, the other two six games, and many of those contests were incredible.

If Golden State and Cleveland have a chance to re-create a feud that indelible, we should be grateful.

But 2017 Warriors-Cavs is shaping up differently than mid-1980s L.A.-Boston in one key regard. The Western Conference was spotty in those days, and in two of those three showdown years the Lakers advanced to the NBA Finals without truly being pushed. The East, on the other hand, was a dark alley. The Celtics were extended to seven games by the New York Knicks (Bernard King, Bill Cartwright) in the 1984 conference semifinals, by the Milwaukee Bucks (Terry Cummings, Jack Sikma) in the 1987 semis and by the Detroit Pistons (Adrian Dantley, Isiah Thomas) in the 1987 East finals.

So yeah, competitive rounds of playoffs followed by classic NBA Finals? That’s the best of both worlds, and of course we would choose it without hesitation.

These current playoffs don’t have that feel, though.

NBA players bristle when you call their victories “easy,” and with good reason. Guarding Damian Lillard or banging inside with Rudy Gobert isn’t easy by any definition of the term. I wouldn’t go so far as to call the Warriors’ first eight games “boring,” either. Green lobbing balls for JaVale McGee to cram through the hoop has its entertainment value.

But let’s be honest. The 2017 playoffs are lacking in suspense. The Warriors and Jazz played for 192 minutes; Utah led for exactly 11 minutes and 10 seconds. There was never a doubt that the Warriors would win the series, nor was there the slightest concern that they’d survive Portland, even when Durant got hurt in that first-round tussle. Same with the Cavaliers. Two of their wins against Toronto in the previous round were by 20-plus points.

So forget Bird-Magic. This is different. This is either-or. Warriors-Cavs is shaping up as a battle of titans, but is that worth a run-up with all the dramatic tension of pushing a shopping cart around the nuts-and-dried-fruit island at Trader Joe’s?

Many would answer in the affirmative. Years from now, we’ll remember Curry and LeBron James trading wondrous moves, they say, not the steps that brought them together.

This is true, but it puts too high of a value on nostalgia. There are many things that seem wonderful in retrospect because you remember the moment of glory they provided, or the strength you gained from them, rather than the tedium they entailed: pregnancy, piano lessons, high school graduation ceremonies (stop kidding yourself), drives down I-5 for beach vacations in SoCal.

The 2017 playoffs aren’t laid-back for everyone, of course. Isaiah Thomas is slowly losing all of his teeth in Boston’s series against Washington, and Kawhi Leonard might be playing on a rubber ankle by the time his Spurs face Golden State.

Meanwhile, the Warriors and Cavaliers rest up, play golf, submit to deep-tissue massages and watch their potential opponents annihilate one another on TV. For the favorites, the postseason is more like a succession of tiny little seasons and offseasons, a cycle of action and loitering. You can’t blame the Warriors or Cavs; it’s in their interest to dispatch challengers quickly.

But the rest of us don’t have to applaud. When Golden State and Cleveland finally tip off on June 1, it’s going to be one hell of a day at the beach. Right now we’re driving down the interstate, and I’m asking: Are we there yet?

You can reach Phil Barber at 707-521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com. Follow him on Twitter: @Skinny_Post.