It was a decade in which the Golden State Warriors made the N.B.A. finals their June home for five consecutive seasons, consistent excellence unseen since Bill Russell’s Boston Celtics in the 1960s. It was the decade in which Kobe Bryant shot himself into retirement with an incomprehensible 60-point farewell game — and it was the N.B.A.’s Twitter decade, too. What we do know for sure, though, is that the Warriors’ run played out under the glare of a much more demanding spotlight. The level of scrutiny is such in the modern game that it exacted an emotional toll on the Warriors that the Bulls, to some degree, happily avoided.

Source: International New York Times December 25, 2019 00:09 UTC