The Warriors may be the No. 6 seed within the Western Convention—the final spot in the true playoffs—however their place there may be something however assured.
Minnesota, Sacramento, and the Clippers are on their heels, ready for any slip that might push Golden State again into the play-in event.
Actuality is usually a actual bummer generally.
However ignore that actuality. With the way in which the Warriors are enjoying as of late — they’ve received 9 of 10 video games Jimmy Butler has performed in blue and yellow — it’s unimaginable not to consider what glory may come for the Dubs within the postseason.
The sixth seed? Proper now that looks like the least of what the Warriors can accomplish.
I can’t consider I’m penning this, however it’s greater than truthful to speak in regards to the Warriors — sure, the Bay’s workforce — successful a title this season. The Dubs have halved their title odds from the beginning of the season and now sit as sixth-favorite within the league at 14-to-1.
A longshot? Certain. However we’re nonetheless speaking a few title! My, how issues have modified in a month.
Tuesday evening’s win in opposition to the Knicks completely encapsulates why it’s okay to discover lofty potentialities with the Dubs. On the highway, enjoying the second finish of a back-to-back, the Warriors had been terrible within the first half at Madison Sq. Backyard.
Certain, they had been creating open photographs, one thing they’ve finished constantly since Butler arrived, however they had been clanking them each which approach on nationwide tv.
Butler, specifically, was lacking something from distance, making solely considered one of 5 bounce photographs within the first two quarters.
However within the second half, the Dubs photographs began falling. Steph Curry made 4 of the Warriors eight 3-pointers after halftime.
Extra importantly, the Dubs put the clamps on New York, forcing 9 turnovers, with six steals and three blocks. New York shot 39 p.c from the ground, as Butler and Draymond Inexperienced mixed to placed on a defensive masterclass. In 15 second-half minutes collectively, the Warriors posted a internet score of plus-24.5 (factors per 100 possessions). Butler didn’t enable a made 3-pointer within the sport, as he contested almost every part that went up, together with photographs from the nook.
Play like that, and who can’t the Warriors beat?
No, significantly, who?
I don’t see anybody insurmountable within the Western Convention.
Talking of New York, the NBA’s league workplace needs to be giddy with the potential for a Warriors – Lakers playoff sequence. The later the higher for the league, however any time will do.
That battle of California may come as early as the primary spherical, provided that the Lakers are jostling between Nos. 2 and three seeds.
However whereas the Lakers are the higher regular-season workforce, there’s not a lot cause to suppose the Dubs wouldn’t have the ability to deal with them in a seven-game sequence.
Don’t get me fallacious: it’d be a very good showdown now that Luka Dončić is a Laker, however we’ve seen how Steve Kerr handles the Slovenian James Harden. Is LeBron James nonetheless inexplicably nice at age 40? You wager. Can he common 30-plus an evening for seven video games? The Dubs could be eager to see.
With out Anthony Davis, the Warriors’ greatest (actually) bugaboo wouldn’t be an element. A giant man who can dominate the sport on each ends of the courtroom is kryptonite to the lilliputian Dubs, however the Lakers solely have one middle of notice, Jaxson Hayes, and he’s hardly notable, as he averages solely three defensive rebounds a sport.
It doesn’t take a suspension of disbelief to think about the Dubs beating the Lakers head-to-head.
A bit extra effort would wish to enter making the argument for the Warriors beating the Nuggets, however let me give it a strive:
The Nuggets are a shallow workforce. Whereas spectacular on the prime finish with one of the best participant on the planet—Nikola Jokić — and a resurgent Jamal Murray, the Nuggets should not even near the squad that received the title two years in the past.
Moreover, the Lakers confirmed in a current matchup that dimension isn’t essentially wanted to decelerate Jokić (you’ll by no means totally cease him). By fronting him within the publish all sport, Jokić wasn’t given straightforward entry passes from which he may function the Nuggets offense. Double and triple groups compelled the ball out of his fingers. Jokić had a triple-double in that sport two weeks again, however he solely made two photographs from the sphere and had six turnovers.
Would that defensive tactic — one I’m sure the Dubs would implement – maintain up in a seven-game sequence? Most likely not. The playoffs are all about counters.
But when the Nuggets can’t discover a counter, and Jokić, like Dončić, could be taken out of a sport with double groups, it leaves gamers like Christian Braun, Aaron Gordon, and Michael Porter Jr. to beat you. (Oh, and Russell Westbrook, too. Sure, we’re nonetheless doing that.)
Porter is capturing 40 p.c from past the arc this season. Maybe he’ll beat whomever dares go away him open.
Or maybe somebody who solely shoots 75 p.c from the free-throw line has been defying expectation from past the arc all season and the postseason is the place regression hits.
I, for one, would love to seek out out what’s what.
For now, I’ll ignore the Rockets (can’t rating) and Grizzlies (questionable protection, as of late), although I retain the suitable to carry the Grizzlies again up earlier than April. I like their offense.
This leaves us with the Thunder, the highest seed within the West and the rightful favorites to win the convention.
If OKC performs its finest ball within the playoffs, it can coast to the NBA Finals. It would even win the entire thing. My goodness, they’re good.
However they’re additionally youngsters. At a mean age of 24, the Thunder are the second youngest workforce within the NBA this season.
Their success this season can’t be denied, however the worth of expertise within the playoffs can’t be denied, both.
Do I like a matchup with the Thunder in a seven-game sequence for the Warriors? No sir. Oklahoma Metropolis is healthier offensively and defensively, and people younger legs could be a large downside for the Dubs within the open courtroom.
However there isn’t any assure that any of that may carry over into the playoffs. It’s a unique sport than regular-season basketball, and nobody is aware of that higher than Inexperienced, Curry, and the person generally known as Playoff Jimmy.
Plus, the Warriors received two of three with the Thunder this season earlier than Butler’s arrival. These previous heads aren’t eager to provide the youngins even a little bit of quarter. A sequence between the 2 groups may very well be a massacre, or it may show to be a sort of excessive drama paying homage to a previous period of rivalry.
All this to say that whereas the Dubs may be flawed and their standing as a real playoff workforce is precarious, however every part is on the desk for this workforce come the postseason. They’ve proven sufficient that there are causes to consider that this season may go from nothing to greater than just a bit one thing.
The Dubs have a month remaining to substantiate or deny such allegations.
However both approach, I do know this: we’ll be eagerly watching.
And isn’t {that a} wild change from just some weeks in the past?
