Anyone else think the Warriors are not that good? I mean, even we gave them a decent challenge without Nurkic. They are not dominating Utah, who isn't exactly a power house. I remember when the Spurs would just steamroll everyone. This Warrior team is not at that level. I think the NBA as a whole is weak this year.
We didn't give them a decent challenge this year. Other than Game 3, when Nurk started, did we ever lead in the entire series? Their average margin of victory over us was 18 points.
We gave them a much tougher battle last year where we:
a) actually won a game
b) were only outscored by a
total of 22 points in a five game series (this year, we were outscored by 29 points in Game 2 alone)
c) led for more minutes than they did
This year, with Durant, they just have way more margin for error, perhaps more than any team ever. Last night,three of their four all stars had below average games. Klay Thompson scored 16 points LESS than his average. Thompson, Curry and Green were a combined 3-18 (.167 3FG%) from 3-point range. Their bench only scored 19 points and was outscored by UTA's bench. They only had 17 assists (they average over 30). And they still won by double digits, on the road, over a 51-win UTA team that was in a must win situation. It's hard to imagine GSW playing a worse game than they did last night, and they still won by 11.
Sure if they play that "bad" against CLE, they will lose a game, maybe even two. But something tells me, they won't have many (or any) games like that once they finish their cakewalk to the finals. They are just coasting right now and still beating teams by double digits. They have no sense of urgency right now and they don't need it. They are so deep, they can sleepwalk through these early rounds and still win going away. They will ratchet up the intensity when the competition gets better and the stakes are higher.
Some here thought they would be worse this year, due to the depth they lost to clear the cap space to sign Durant. That may have been true during the long regular season, but the post season belongs to the stars, and they added a big one in Durant (4-time NBA scoring champ and former MVP). Last year's team was built for regular season success. This year's team is built for the playoffs, perhaps better than any team in NBA history.
By combining forces, neither Durant not Curry will win the MVP award or scoring title this year, but between the two of them they own the last three MVPs and 5 of the last 7 scoring titles. That's unprecedented. And, their 3rd option averaged 22.3 ppg - that's more than half the league's 1st options. It sucks that they are this good but they are.
LeBron is playing out of his mind right now, but as good as he is, GSW is a better team than CLE. Their biggest problem against CLE last year was a lack of depth up front. Last year, Bogut's injury was the turning point in that series and the main reason GSW blew that 3 game to 1 lead. I've said this many times, but after Bogut went down, those last three games became a layup drill for LeBron and company. With no rim protection, CLE outscored GSW by 17 points per game in the paint over the last three games of that series. And while they may have lost a little depth elsewhere, they are actually deeper up front this year than last. This year, if they lose Pachulia, they have McGee and West to help rebound and protect the paint. There won't be any layup drill for CLE this year.
Yeah, they look a little bored and disinterested right now, but they are still winning with ease and will crank it up when they need to.
BNM
