Up until recently, the Golden State Warriors did not have a very rich history.
Yes, they have won six championships, which has them tied with the Chicago Bulls for the third most in the history of the NBA, but two of those came when the franchise was playing in Philadelphia back in the 1940s and '50s.
There was a rather large gap between their second and third titles, as the Warriors went nearly two decades without winning a championship before Rick Barry and Co. hung a banner in 1975.
Even more time passed between the Dubs' third championship and their fourth, with Golden State finally winning another one in 2015. That began a remarkable five-year stretch in which the Warriors made it to five straight finals and ripped off three titles overall.
As a result, when most people think about the Warriors' success, they think about the run between 2015 and 2019, when they encountered a great deal of rivals along the way.
Here are the top five rivals Golden State has faced:
The Warriors only met the Thunder in the playoffs once, but it was one of the greatest series in postseason history.
It occurred during the 2016 Western Conference Finals, when Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook were still both members of Oklahoma City and Golden State had just completed a 73-win season.
Durant and Co. seemed determined to end the Dubs' season with a whimper, as they took a 3-1 series lead in rather dominant fashion.
But the Warriors roared back, winning three straight games—including rallying from a double-digit second-half deficit in Game 6—to win the series and advance to the finals (where they would lose to the Cleveland Cavaliers).
That series proved to be a major turning point in the NBA, as Durant left the Thunder for the Warriors that ensuing summer and proceeded to win back-to-back titles with the club.
Those Western Conference Finals will forever live in infamy in Oklahoma City.
At first, the Warriors could not beat the Clippers.
Back in 2014, Golden State met Los Angeles in the second round of the playoffs, and while Stephen Curry and the boys put up a great fight, the Clippers ultimately prevailed in six games.
The triumvirate of Blake Griffin, Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan was just too much for the young Dubs at the time.
But then, the following year, things began to shift, and suddenly, the script flipped.
From the 2014-15 campaign going forward, it was the Clippers who were not able to best the Warriors, as the sharpshooting of Curry and Klay Thompson and the versatility of Draymond Green gave LA all sorts of problems.
It didn't help the Clippers' case that Griffin's knee issues derailed his time in Los Angeles during Golden State's run of dominance.
The Warriors and Clippers would never meet in the playoffs again.
This was always the rivalry that could have been.
Yes, the Spurs and the Warriors have met in the playoffs three times (Kawhi Leonard and the Dubs have met four times), but the circumstances always came with a caveat.
The first meeting came in 2013, when a baby-faced Curry led Golden State to a first-round playoff upset of the Denver Nuggets before losing to San Antonio in six in the second round. The Warriors were hardly the Warriors at that juncture.
The second meeting arrived in the 2017 Western Conference Finals. This time around, the Warriors had Durant in the fold in addition to Curry, Thompson and Green, but the Spurs were led by a budding superstar in Leonard.
San Antonio held a 23-point lead in Game 1 of that series before Leonard turned his ankle on Zaza Pachulia's foot, knocking him out for the remainder of the series. The Dubs went on to sweep, but if Leonard had not gotten hurt, who knows what would have ensued.
The final postseason meeting between the Warriors and the Spurs took place in the first round of 2018, when Leonard wasn't even playing and the Spurs were mere shells of themselves in general. Golden State won in five.
But that's where things get interesting: Leonard was traded to the Toronto Raptors that ensuing summer, and the following season, the Dubs met Leonard and the Raptors in the finals, falling in six games.
Once again, however, there was a qualifier: Durant missed all but one quarter and change in the series due to a calf injury that resulted in a torn Achilles when he tried to return in Game 5. Thompson then tore his ACL in the deciding Game 6.
I would have loved to have seen the Spurs and Warriors meet in 2015, but due to injuries to Tony Parker and Tiago Splitter, San Antonio fell to the Clippers in the first round that spring.
If the stars simply aligned correctly, the Spurs could have been No. 1 on this list.
2. Houston Rockets
In four of the Warriors' five finals appearances between 2015 and 2019, they had to get by the Rockets. They managed to do so every time, but it was not easy.
The most intense meeting between the two clubs came in 2018, when Houston actually held a 3-2 series lead before Paul (who was in his first year with the Rockets after being acquired from the Clippers) suffered a hamstring injury that knocked him out for Games 6 and 7. The Warriors went on to win both games to advance to the finals.
Some insist that had CP3 been healthy that Houston would have beaten Golden State that year. No one really knows for sure. Perhaps the Warriors would have responded regardless with their backs against the wall. Or maybe Paul's presence would have simply been too much for a Dubs team that was clearly not as good as it was the year prior.
Either way, the Rockets were never able to actually get the better of the Warriors, most recently falling to them in a six-game second-round series last spring.
All of those losses will haunt James Harden for a long, long time, and they have also put a dent in his reputation for a whole lot of people who discuss his playoff failures.
1. Cleveland Cavaliers
This is the obvious No. 1 choice.
The Warriors met LeBron James and the Cavaliers in the finals four straight times between 2015 and 2018, with Golden State winning three of those four matchups.
Of course, the most famous series came in 2016, when James, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love and the Cavs topped the 73-win Warriors in a thrilling seven-game set that featured a 3-1 comeback.
Then, the Dubs added Durant, and the next two meetings were not even close, as the Warriors beat the Cavaliers in five games in 2017 and swept them in 2018.
This was easily one of the biggest rivalries in the history of the sport, as it seemed pretty clear that James and the Cavs did not like the Warriors, and the Warriors didn't like them.
Was it always competitive? No. Did it get boring by time 2018 rolled around and everyone knew Golden State was going to steamroll Cleveland? Yes.
But it was a critical time in the NBA's history, and it will always be remembered.
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