The Golden State Warriors have dominated the Bay Area sports realm over the past five seasons. Five straight trips to the NBA Finals, three championships and the birth of one of the best backcourt duos in NBA history have made it easy for basketball fans in the Bay Area to jump on the bandwagon.
It’s not just the Warriors that had reigned over the Bay Area. At the start of the decade, it was the San Francisco Giants who were hanging banners in the Mission Bay neighborhood of the city.
Now, both San Francisco basketball and baseball teams are struggling. However, the football team has risen to the occasion and taken the Bay Area championship baton.
The San Francisco 49ers are only one win away from a trip to the Super Bowl, and their head coach wants his offense to play similarly to the championship Warriors of the past.
I just have always been a fan of them, and even before I got here just watching how they play — I remember saying in Atlanta even when we were there that I wanted our receiver group to be similar to the Warriors — to where who knows who the starter is.
Shanahan keyed on the Warriors usage of their sixth man, turned Finals Most Valuable Player, Andre Iguodala.
They all play — Andre Iguodala, things like that — I think he wasn’t the starter and then he’s the conference finals or whatever it’s called, NBA championship MVP — seven games that matter to them.
The 49ers’ head coach wants his team to have the unselfish mentality the Golden State Warriors championship-run showed.
I mean, you think of stuff like that — you’ve got an MVP, you’ve got a defensive MVP, guys who seem really not to care how it gets done — They all just go out there and ball and see where the weakness in the defense is, and wherever that ends up, that guy shoots and that’s a lot how I see offense.
Kyle Shanahan compares this #49ers team with the Golden State Warriors of the past few years 👀 pic.twitter.com/MMQTH6sb0L
— Taylor Wirth (@WirthTM) January 15, 2020
If Shanahan’s goal was to model his team after the Warriors, even if it was just a little bit, he’s done well. The 49ers have four different players with 30 or more receptions and three different running backs with 500 or more rushing yards. The 49ers defense line alone has four players with six or more sacks.
A key reason why the 49ers have advanced deep into the playoffs is their ability to play balanced football, with a new unit leading them to victory each week.