Opinion

Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors have seen a lot during a dynasty that is now threatening to span a decade. They've played by far the most high-stakes series and squared off with the widest variety of superstars, MVPs and would-be dethroners during their six Finals trips in eight years.

But they've never seen anything quite like these Boston Celtics.

Every opponent brings unique challenges, and every playoff series is different. But as the Warriors advanced through this postseason, their history prepared them at every step.

Nikola Jokic is on a level all his own as a point center who operates as his team's offensive fulcrum, but the Dubs successfully applied many of the lessons they learned facing peak Marc Gasol in the 2015 West semifinals to the Joker.

When the Warriors faced Gasol's old Memphis Grizzlies in the second round, they had to wrangle a dynamic, game-changing point guard in Ja Morant (until he went down with a knee injury). That might have intimidated a less experienced team than Golden State, which bested Russell Westbrook and his extreme athleticism in the 2016 Western Conference Finals.

And Morant, for the record, did not have 27-year-old four-time scoring champion Kevin Durant at his side.

The latter part of the 2022 Grizzlies series saw Memphis go big and lean on its rugged defense. Golden State adjusted and advanced, perhaps because those old 2015 Grizzlies were even bigger and more physical than the modern version. The OKC frontcourts featuring a young Steven Adams, Serge Ibaka and Durant also gave the Warriors core and its coaching staff a primer on how to handle a massive size and athleticism disadvantage.

Finally, Luka Doncic and his heliocentric genius arrived in the conference finals. Good thing Curry, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, Kevon Looney and head coach Steve Kerr had already eliminated an even more lethal version of that team four years ago. The 65-win Houston Rockets of 2017-18 featured a prime James Harden and a switch-happy defense that pushed Golden State to the brink—but not over it.

Singular superstars no longer faze a Warriors team that took three out of four Finals from LeBron James, perhaps the greatest postseason test-prep tool of them all. A squad that survives the tactical brilliance and physical onslaught of James can confidently face off with anyone and say, "We've seen worse."

Through those five consecutive trips to the Finals from 2015 to 2019, the Warriors core went toe to toe with the best the league had to offer—in all shapes and sizes. They derailed a potential dynasty in Oklahoma City, turned Grit and Grind to dust in Memphis, prevented Harden from one-man-showing his way to a ring in Houston and denied James the extra titles that would have put the GOAT debate to bed.

What could these Celtics possibly offer that Golden State hasn't seen (and solved) before?

Start with the numbers.

Boston's net rating this season was a plus-7.4. That's not the best full-season figure these Warriors have faced. The 2016 Thunder matched that number exactly, and the 2018 Rockets were even better at plus-8.4.

However, we know the overall stats don't produce an accurate picture of the Celtics as they exist today. Remember, this team got off to a stumbling start and didn't find its stride until head coach Ime Udoka's schemes sank in and Marcus Smart took over the point on a full-time basis.

After Jan. 1, the Celtics destroyed the league, running up an obscene plus-12.7 net rating that dwarfs anything Warriors playoff foes of the past ever mustered.

Numbers aside, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are a one-two wing punch the Warriors have never really seen. They're the predictable result of late-2010s Golden State forcing opponents to stockpile as many two-way, weakness-free wings as possible. Those have always been the key to defending the Warriors' attack. The Tatum-Brown duo also brings a youth-experience combination the Dubs have yet to face. Brown is 25, and Tatum is 24, yet they already have seven conference finals berths between them.

But that's not even where the real novelty (or terror, if you're a Warriors supporter) arises. The true threat is in the way Boston is an amalgamation of so many of the top squads Golden State has seen over the years.

The Celtics were the best defense in the league this past season. And though the Warriors have survived elite individual stoppers in the past, they've never seen a collective group with that distinction in the Finals. What's more, Marcus Smart is the reigning Defensive Player of the Year—basically the ideal weapon to set against Curry, Thompson, Jordan Poole and anyone else with designs on scoring.

Golden State has played against plenty of former DPOYs in past postseasons—Gasol in 2015, Rudy Gobert in 2017 and Kawhi Leonard in 2019—but this will be the first time tangling with one that currently holds the trophy. Combined with Tatum, Brown and Boston's mobile bigs, Smart gives his team the best chance anyone's ever had at putting a stop to the Warriors' three-ring circus of off-ball movement and quick-trigger passing.

In addition to ideal personnel, the Celtics also employ a switching scheme that has historically given the Warriors fits. But while those old Rockets teams switched so frequently in part because they had shaky defenders to hide, the Celtics employ the NBA's switch-heaviest approach because they're great at it.

Per ESPN's Kevin Pelton, "No other team switched more frequently than the Celtics during the regular season, and they rank second in frequency (44%) so far during the playoffs."

Boston brings the heft of past Grizzlies and Thunder teams, the pick-and-roll-crippling switchability of the Rockets and none of the weak points any of those opponents possessed.

And for all the intimidating dominance LeBron brought to the table in those four Finals tilts, his Cavs never had the stopping power of these Celtics. Cleveland's best defense during its repeat dates with the Warriors ranked 10th (2016) and was as low as 29th (2018).

The Warriors built their impressive resume by facing down new challenges. There was no blueprint for beating the Harden-led Rockets, the James-led Cavs or Thunder teams Russ and KD captained until the Dubs sketched one themselves. The Celtics' novelty doesn't make them unbeatable, and we should expect Golden State to locate and attack pressure points—like the Celtics' relatively suspect offense, which bogged down late and nearly cost it Game 7 against the Miami Heat in the East finals.

The Warriors finished second in defensive efficiency to the Celtics this year, which means they'll still have a chance to succeed even if Smart and Co. put the clamps on.

The Kerr-era Dubs will head into their sixth Finals with a depth and breadth of experience few have ever had, yet they could quickly find themselves searching for answers that their past can't provide.

You could frame Boston as a new threat or a combination of many old and familiar ones. Either way, the Warriors are in for a fight unlike any they've seen.

Stats courtesy of NBA.com, Basketball Reference and Cleaning the Glass. Accurate through 2021-22 season. Salary info via Spotrac.

Less than a year ago, the thought of CM Punk standing as a pro wrestling promotion's top champion was baffling—now he's the AEW world champion and fans are headed for the next Summer of Punk. 

Sunday night at All Elite Wrestling's Double or Nothing, Punk got the best of champion "Hangman" Adam Page to close the show in an instant classic that featured not only some brilliant storytelling that avoided heel turns, but also some of the most important historical landmarks in modern wrestling history. 

After all, Punk was going on a near-decade hiatus from pro wrestling after his ugly split with WWE. That ended during his big return last August, and though he started slow while working with up-and-coming Superstars, it was only a matter of time before he contended for the promotion's top title. 

By the end of the night on Sunday, the 43-year-old was overcome with emotion after being announced as the winner, capping off a stunning resume: 

And it sure feels like we're just getting started. 

In a major way, thank the booking. This hardly has to mean the end of the Punk vs. Page saga. Perhaps if fans are lucky, it's only just getting started. 

But even if the Superstars go their own separate ways, AEW's call to not roll out a major heel turn for shock value is actually the best decision possible. The match sure hinted at chances for both. Punk avoided resorting to dastardly means to get a win on one of the biggest stages of his storied career, so there's no asterisk on it in the history books. He now gets to be the brand ambassador while welcoming babyface and heel challengers alike. 

And Page, frankly, is perhaps the best long-term booked Superstar of his generation, if not longer. What started as a journey as an underdog home-grown talent hoping to make it big, only to be cut down and take a windy course to the top over the course of multiple years, has hit another stunning development. 

Page's conscience got the best of him.

With the referee down, he could have ended a slugfest where no one man truly had an advantage by using his title as a weapon. He chose not to, threw it aside, got countered and lost said title. Nobody could complain if this was his "Joker" moment and breaks bad again, or if he doubles down and perseveres. 

A disclaimer—both of these get a for now designation, of course. Page going heel would be understandable. Punk is one of the best of the modern era at doing it and it only feels like a matter of time. 

Either way, another summer of Punk, once thought an impossibility reserved for the fantasy-bookers only, is here. And he'll be the center of every broadcast in the way Jon Moxley or Chris Jericho was, as opposed to Page's more reserved run where the rest of the roster seemed to shine brighter often. 

Given the lack of a heel turn, there's no expectation that Punk will ultimately lose to a Superstar who must be the next guy, either. He can have new, fun feuds, sure, but some of the old matchups he's already had against the likes of Darby Allin, MJF, Eddie Kingston and especially Wardlow can now unfold in a fresh light. 

Interestingly, speaking of the match quality itself, even Punk's botches on Buckshot Lariats told a captivating story of a modern, albeit aging legend trying to show he can run with the next generation. An unintentional thing (during a main event taking place well after midnight on the east coast, no less), but something Punk and his future opponents can surely weave expertly into storylines. Who doesn't want to root for the grizzled, graying veteran who really earns those "You still got it" chants?

Not that the horse needs hit much more, but this main event was another good example of where AEW just blows most other competitors out of the water. Yes, there were "steal the opponent's finisher" spots that often feel cliche. But the above meant they had more meaning than usual. And the good guy being conflicted about brutalizing an opponent with a weapon to get a win has quite a bit more weight behind it when the Superstar doing it has years and years of complex character development that gets tested in that single moment. 

In short, there's a reason the crowd at the very end of a very long pay-per-view was as red hot as viewers will see—and seemingly split right down the middle during a match with no true villain. 

It's also worth noting this is a critical juncture for AEW, which makes the Punk win and hitting the brakes on a heel turn noteworthy. The company just lost Cody Rhodes. There's the MJF drama. The main event scene needs to stabilize a bit. If there's a guy to head all this up—never mind clash with a certain three-lettered competitor a bit over the summer—it's undoubtedly Punk. 

Most fans familiar with The Best in the World know another Summer of Punk is near-guaranteed to be a banger. But with this sort of careful passion for the craft flanking him, highlighted by Page, it has a real shot to be the best rendition yet. 

Given Punk's historical resume and fan expectations surrounding his return to pro wrestling, that's saying something. 

The expectations for the Dallas Cowboys are the same each and every year. Win the Super Bowl. Period. Anything less, and the season is a failure for all intents and purposes.

There are Texas-sized expectations in Dallas in 2022—the Cowboys are fresh off a 12-5 season and NFC East title. Last year no team in the NFL tallied more yards or scored more points per game.

However, while the Cowboys are a talented team and the front-runner to win the NFC East according to the oddsmakers at DraftKings, a compelling argument can be made that after an offseason dictated largely by the team's lack of cap space, the 2022 Cowboys aren't as good on paper as the team that was embarrassed at home by the San Francisco 49ers in the Wild Card Round last season.

With a roster inching in the wrong direction (and a Super Bowl window growing slimmer along with it), these Cowboys are flawed—too flawed to be considered a legitimate threat to NFC powerhouses like the Los Angeles Rams and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

At least one person disagrees vehemently with the notion that the Cowboys are a franchise heading in the wrong direction. Per Arnav Sharma of Cowboys Country, quarterback Dak Prescott pushed back on the idea that the Cowboys have backslid while speaking to reporters at OTAs.

"We definitely didn't take a step back," he said. "We're going to continue to get better and that's what this offseason is about.”

For his part, Prescott has held up his end of the deal. After eclipsing 4,400 passing yards for the second time in three seasons with a career-best 37 touchdown passes in 2021, the 28-year-old Prescott may well be the biggest steal in the NFL draft of the past decade. He's gone from a Day 3 pick to a high-end NFL starter and two-time Pro Bowler.

The problem isn't Prescott, though. It's the players around him.

The Cowboys have a budding young star at wide receiver in third-year pro CeeDee Lamb, who caught 79 passes and topped 1,100 yards in 2021. With Amari Cooper now in Cleveland, it will fall to Lamb to serve as Prescott's No. 1 wide receiver—a role that he told Rob Phillips of the team's website he is more than ready for.

"I've been ready," he said. "That's just me and my competitiveness. That's in my nature. It's kind of how we grew up playing football. I'm always ready for my name to be called. It's a dream that I've always wanted to live and now that I'm actually living it, I feel like it's my opportunity to fulfill it. So I'm looking at it as an opportunity."

That Lamb has the talent to be a No.1 receiver isn't in dispute. But neither is the fact that once you get past him on the depth chart, the questions start piling up fairly quickly.

The Cowboys brought back fifth-year pro Michael Gallup, but Gallup missed almost half of the 2021 season and tore his ACL in January. The player brought in to replace Cooper (former Steelers wideout James Washington) has never caught 45 passes nor topped 750 yards in a season.

One of the things that made the Cowboys so dangerous offensively a year ago was the depth of their pass-catching corps. If a defense focused on one guy, it meant another could take advantage of single coverage. But that depth has taken a sizable hit, especially if Gallup is out or limited in the early going in 2022.

It's not hard to imagine opposing defenses bracketing Lamb in coverage and essentially daring Gallup, Washington and tight end Dalton Schultz to make them regret it. It isn't guaranteed they will be able to do that.

If the passing game takes a step backward in 2022, that could put added pressure on Ezekiel Elliott and the rushing attack. Per Matt Howe of 247 Sports, after an injury-marred 2021 season, Prescott expects Elliott to rebound in a big way this year.

"Nothing ever changes for my expectations of Zeke, of who he is, how he leads this team, how he approaches the game," Prescott said. "He comes in like a pro each and every day and does that, so I expect his best. When you do that and do it with the intentfulness he does, he's going to get better. When Zeke's healthy, I don't think there's a better back."

Now, it's possible that a (reportedly) healthy Elliott will bounce back from a 2021 campaign that saw the 26-year-old post a career-low 58.9 rushing yards per game. Even in that "down" season, Elliott gained 4.2 yards per carry and topped 1,000 rushing yards. And the Cowboys have a solid insurance policy against Elliott faltering in fourth-year pro Tony Pollard, who averaged a robust 5.5 yards per carry last year.

But it's equally possible (if not more so) that Elliott's 1,650 career carries are catching up to him, and while Pollard shined on a per-touch basis last year, he has never tallied more than 130 carries in a season.

The questions carry over to the offensive line, as well. Per Pro Football Focus, the Cowboys fielded the best O-line in the game in 2021. But that line lost two starters in free agency in left guard Connor Williams and right tackle La'El Collins. The Cowboys spent a first-round pick on a replacement for Williams in Tulsa's Tyler Smith, but he's not a sure thing and Dallas could have an issue at the right end of the line regardless. It's more than likely going to be a good line, but it's quite possible it won't be as good as last season's version.

It's not just the offense where the Cowboys could struggle to match last season's production. Dallas was decent (if unspectacular) at rushing opposing quarterbacks last year, tallying 41 sacks. But after Randy Gregory bolted Dallas for Denver, there's increased pressure on Micah Parsons to back up last year's rookie explosion and for veteran DeMarcus Lawrence to return to form after tallying just 9.5 sacks the past two seasons combined.

Dallas signed veteran Dante Fowler and drafted Ole Miss' Sam Williams to help on the edge. Still, Fowler was mostly invisible the past two seasons in Atlanta, and Williams is an untested rookie at a position where first-year players often struggle.

If the pass rush begins to falter in Dallas, that will leave the team's cornerbacks on something of an island—and that would be a problem. The Cowboys were 20th in the NFL in passing defense last year, and while cornerback Trevon Diggs paced the league in interceptions last year, he did so while allowing a whopping 907 yards in coverage and 16.8 yards per completion.

Dallas is an average defensive team, which only ratchets up the pressure on Prescott and the offense that much more.

All of those potential problem areas in Dallas probably aren't going to go against the team in 2022. Not everything will go wrong. But it doesn't have to, and it's every bit as unlikely that everything will go right.

That leaves the Cowboys in real trouble. The Buccaneers and Rams both did a mostly excellent job of keeping together rosters that lack glaring weaknesses. Dallas' division rivals in Philadelphia appear to have markedly improved their team.

For Dallas, meanwhile, the best-case is a team that's no better than the one that failed to win a playoff game last year. The worst is a team that's substantially worse and misses the postseason altogether.

The most likely outcome lies somewhere in between. A team that's good enough to get to the playoffs but not good enough to do any real damage once it gets there. A flawed team that will soon be one year closer to their Super Bowl window being shut.

And a team that won't be any closer to winning football's biggest game for the first time since 1995.