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ring the entirety of this past National Basketball Association (NBA) season there has been a clear-cut best team in the Association’s best conference. The Oakland, Calif. Golden State Warriors ran away with the Western Conference title heading down the stretch in late March and finishing with a 67-15 regular season record. That winning percentage of .817 stands as the sixth best in league history and the highest the league has seen since the 2007 Dallas Mavericks.
However, do not expect the Warriors to repeat the similarly disappointing result as they have already jumped to a 2-0 series lead against the New Orleans Pelicans. First-year coach and former league point guard Steve Kerr has brought the same offensive prowess to his new team that made him so famous during his 15-year career. The Warriors led the NBA in team points per game this year by a wide margin, posting 110 per contest (almost four better than the next squad). They outpaced the rest of the competition in assists per game, three-point percentage and total field goal percentage.
In a league where guard play proves so crucial — especially come the postseason — the Warriors have more than enough. Lead guards Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson both led the charge and took responsibility for the season-long offensive outburst. Curry cemented himself among the top five players in the league this season. Curry was seemingly responsible for at least one SportsCenter “Top Ten” play every game, all while posting averages to the tune of 23.8 points and 7.7 assists per game.
Not to be outdone, Curry’s fellow “Splash Brother” Klay Thompson has entered the upper echelon of league scorers. Thompson gained recognition for his 37-point quarter against the Sacramento, Calif. Kings in January.
Some people may have doubts that the fast-paced Warrior offense will run into struggles when the games slow down this postseason against ferocious defenses such as that of the Memphis, Tenn. Grizzlies. Nevertheless the league’s most offensively efficient team is the Warriors (averaging 113 points per 100 possessions), who remained undefeated in games under the league average in total possessions. Ironically, one of those victories was against the Grizzlies, who many see as a potential candidate to upset the Warriors in the conference semifinals.
Critics also see Golden State as a soft, artful and offensive-oriented team given its impressive and diverse attack. Kerr’s squad, however, limited opponents to a .400 field goal percentage on the season, the fourth best mark in the NBA.
The best way to upset the Warriors would be to disrupt their perimeter offense by limiting three pointers and forcing their guards to facilitate offense within the paint. The depth of Warrior personnel adept at shooting beyond the arch renders this strategy easier said than done: seven Golden State players shoot above .300 from deep.
Finally, the way the Western Conference playoff bracket took form could not have been more beneficial for the Warriors. In the next round the squad should face a faltering Grizzlies or Portland, Ore. Blazers team. After that they should face Houston (assuming it capitalizes on its 2-0 series lead on Dallas), the San Antonio Spurs or the Los Angeles Clippers. If the Warriors did not already match up favorably enough against these three teams, they will have full home-court advantage throughout the playoffs.
Don’t expect the team on the Western side to be anyone but the Warriors.
