A Manchester City Fan’s Guide To the NBA Playoffs

They may be the league’s most hated team, but their style of play, their time of emergence, wild history, and sheer entertainment value make the Golden State Warriors a can’t miss team.

A third team that may interest Manchester City fans is one who’s inclusion is sure to create some controversy: The Golden State Warriors.

For those who follow the NBA, their inclusion may come as a shock. After all, their dominance this decade isn’t all that different from the Sir Alex Ferguson Manchester United teams of the 2000’s. Why would City fans want to root for that kind of super-team?

A comparison of these sides, however, reveals that these teams have a ton of a parallels.

The Golden State Warriors haven’t always been the monster team that people see them as now. In fact, the Warriors have one of the most tortured pasts of any NBA franchise.

Golden State, like the Philadelphia 76ers, were one of the founding members of a league, the Basketball Association of America, that merged with the NBA in 1949. They were originally founded in Philadelphia.

The Warriors would win the title in their inaugural season, the first title which is officially recognized by the NBA as one of their own today.

After joining the NBA in 1949, the Warriors would remain a competitor. In 1955-56, they would win their second title.

Three years later, in 1959, the Warriors landed one of all-time greats, Wilt Chamberlain, in the draft. Though they would not win an NBA title during his six years on the team, Chamberlain would dominate the league, including his trademark 100 point game (a record that still stands today).

The Warriors would move to San Francisco in 1962. For the next two decades, they would remain a competitive side, capped off by a third title win in 1975.

After 1978, however, things went south in a big way. The Warriors would spend the better part of the next decade languishing.

A brief respite happened between 1985-97. The team occasionally made it to the playoffs, but they never got close to real title contention.

After 1997, the Warriors would spend the next 15 years in NBA purgatory. Outside of a sole season in 2006-07, where they pulled off one of the biggest upsets in NBA history by becoming the first eight seed to beat a top seed by upsetting the defending Western Conference Champion Dallas Mavericks, the Warriors would be on the outside of the playoffs looking in every year.

Only recently, starting in 2012-13, did the Golden State Warriors begin to ascend to the top of the NBA once again.

Manchester City fans can certainly relate to that past. Like Golden State, City had a period of major success during the 60’s and 70’s, a period which saw them win a top flight title, an FA Cup, a League Cup, and their only European trophy.

Manchester City followed that period, once considered the best in their history, by languishing on the fringes of contention for the following two decades. Both teams arguably hit the lowest point in their history at the end of the 1990’s.

Despite their suffering, both teams maintained an extremely loyal and intense fan following. The Warriors maintained one the NBA’s best atmospheres, even as they struggled on the court year after year. Manchester City had one of the largest per game attendances in England, even as they played in the Second and Third Divisions.

At the same time that City began their ascent back to the top the league after the takeover in 2008, Golden State would land their star guard, Stephen Curry, in the draft in 2009. They would end up with Klay Thompson and Draymond Green in the 2011 and 2012 NBA drafts, the same years that Manchester City were signing the likes of Sergio Aguero.

The Warriors would take a bit longer to put it all together, but both sides are now the most dominant forces in their respective leagues. They’ve become the dominant monsters that everyone else envies.

Beyond their histories, there’s other reasons for City fans to root for Golden State in the NBA Playoffs now.

Like City, Golden State plays the most exciting offensive game in the sport. Their fast pace, crisp, pin point passing, frenetic high pressure defending, and ability to score points in a flash is unmatched. More than anyone, Golden State has revolutionized basketball in a significant way.

Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson can hit shots from anywhere on the court, regardless of how good the defending is. Curry has so many incredible creative moments that leave you in awe, much like David Silva has done at Manchester City for the better part of a decade.

Kevin Durant can dominant a game on both ends of the court in a way almost no one else can. His dominance in that respect is reminiscent of the 2010-14 period where Yaya Toure was winning games on both ends for City.

Draymond Green and DeMarcus Cousins are a lot like Mario Balotelli. They have many moments of brilliance, but you never know when they’re going to do something rash that gets them kicked out of a game.

The Warriors have a lot of elements that should be attractive to City fans. Their history mirrors City’s in many way. They play the kind of incredible ball that stands above the rest. They have players and personalities that blend well between the 2011-12 and current iteration of City. They are what Manchester City is on their way to becoming in England.

There’s one final team, however, that may stand above them all.