Steph Curry: Implying NBA lacks parity 'kinda disrespectful' to Warriors, Cavs

Perhaps the 28 other teams in the NBA need to get on the level of the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers, who appear to be leaps and bounds ahead of the rest of the pack.

Or, just maybe, the two teams set to battle in a third straight Finals are just very good at what they do, and should be commended for consistently eliminating other formidable rosters.

"I mean, that almost is kinda disrespectful, because it's almost like it was easy for us to get here. It wasn't that at all," Warriors guard Stephen Curry said Friday afternoon when asked how he feels about the league possibly being watered down. "Us and Cleveland worked our butts off all year to put ourselves in a position to be playing for a championship.

"The league is as strong talent-wise across the board as it's ever been. Every night you get challenged."

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The Warriors became the first team to ever run through the first three rounds of the playoffs with an unscathed 12-0 record. The Cavaliers nearly did the same, finishing 12-1 after dropping Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals to the Boston Celtics due to a 3-pointer at the end of regulation (with a generous roll on the rim) from Avery Bradley.

"You can't just sleepwalk through a season, sleepwalk through the playoffs, and expect to be here," Curry added. "You gotta do something. You gotta come out every night and prove yourself.

"Granted, anybody who's betting on who's going to be in the Finals probably picked us two. But, it's easy for them to say that and just wake up in June and see it happen. We had to put that work in all year long to make it happen."