The astute Athens radio personality Jeff Dantzler noted before the NBA finals that if the Golden State Warriors lost -- and he picked Cleveland to win -- they'd essentially be the 1996 Atlanta Braves. Now, in the light of the Warriors actually losing, that's one of those observations I wish I'd made myself ... because it's pretty much dead on.

-- Like the Warriors, the Braves were going for a second consecutive championship.

-- Like the Warriors, the Braves led their final series -- I believe in baseball it's known as the World Series -- by two games.

-- Like the Warriors, the Braves were seen as the class of their sport. (The Warriors had gone 140-24 over the past two regular seasons. The Braves were gracing their fourth World Series in six years, and there'd been no Series in 1994.)

-- Like the Warriors, the Braves rallied from a 3-1 deficit in their conference/league final.

-- Like the Warriors, the Braves were seen as invincible after the second game after the finals/Series. (The Warriors outscored the Cavaliers by 48 points in Games 1 and 2. The Braves outscored the Yankees 16-1 in Games 1 and 2 -- and, counting the final three games of the NLCS, had outscored the opposition 48-2 over five games.)

-- Like the Warriors, the Braves were undone by an unforeseen occurrence in Game 4. (The Warriors saw Draymond Green get entangled with LeBron James late in a game the Warriors had under control, which led to Green's suspension for Game 5, which turned the series. The Braves led the Yankees 6-0 and were poised to take a 3-1 Series lead when Denny Neagle gave back three runs, Jim Leyritz hit Mark Wohlers' slider for a tying homer and Steve Avery walked Wade Boggs with the bases loaded in the 10th inning.)

-- Biggest moment in the Warriors' series: Kyrie Irving's 3-point shot over Stephen Curry. Biggest moment in the Braves' Series: Leyritz's three-run homer over the left-field wall. (Which Andruw Jones sought to scale, in vain.)

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-- Like the Warriors, the Braves were eliminated on a night when their best player wasn't quite up to snuff. (For the Warriors, it was two-time MVP Curry. For the Braves, it was four-time Cy Young Award winner Greg Maddux, who yielded three runs in a messy third inning in Game 6.)

-- Like the Warriors, the Braves were subjected to much second-guessing. (Why did Steve Kerr stay so long with Harrison Barnes -- and why play Festus Ezeli/Anderson Varejao at all? Why did Bobby Cox summon closer Mark Wohlers to start the eighth inning of Game 4 with a three-run lead when Mike Bielecki had struck out four Yankees in the sixth and seventh?)

-- Like the Warriors, the Braves had to field the question: Did the other team really win -- or did you guys just blow it?

One difference: The Braves didn't lose to a team from Cleveland. (Actually, they'd beaten a team from Cleveland in the 1995 World Series.)

One final similarity: I thought these NBA finals were essentially over after Game 4; I figured the 1996 World Series was essentially over after Game 2.

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Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. (center) is flanked by GOP whip Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo. (left) and Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, as Thune speak to reporters at the Capitol in Washington on Tuesday, July 1, 2025. Earlier Tuesday, the Senate passed the budget reconciliation package of President Donald Trump's signature bill of big tax breaks and spending cuts. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

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