Good analysis and I agree with most of it. The only team I can see giving GSW problems is Cleveland, but I don't think they get past Atlanta.
Should they meet in a second round matchup, the Spurs may have something to say about that. Give a playoff series, there is no coach that is better than Pops irt to minimizing his opponents' strengths. Not implausible to think the Warriors winning the first 2 home games and still losing the series to San Antonio.
Call me crazy but when the going gets tough I see opposing teams putting a big on Curry (say San Antonio with Leonard) and showing hard on GS's PnR forcing the ball out of Curry's hand. Any team with a second competent defender on the wing to not allow Thompson to unload for 30+ takes them in my book. I just don't see them winning it. Not when a healthy Houston team gave them so much trouble running Howard up top hard on the picks forcing Curry to throw awful one handed over his head passes across the court. They'll get figured out on a series. Might not be the first round. Might not be the second. But they aren't winning the whole thing.
Hmm, we gave them much trouble? We lost to them 4 times with an average margin of -15. The best lost was by 11 points.
I think 3 of those 4 were tied or within one possession in the 4th. Rockets also weren't fully healthy for either of those games. I still wouldn't expect Houston to beat the GSW, but they can absolutely take two games from them in a series.
This... we're in one of the most competitive NBA decades/seasons and the Warriors are on pace for the 3rd or 4th best team records of all time. They've been the best team by far the past months and are wrecking teams on both ends. Just laughable how GSW and Curry are being talked down on Clutchfans, the Houston fan base is terribly insecure and people feel the need to talk bad about every decent opponent.
We have never been healthy playing them this season I recall (Could be wrong) I was referring to last season.
Come Playoffs I disagree. I think we're going to see a very Curry-centric Warriors team where some players on that team wilt. Call it intuition. Call it stupidity. Come a time I think they're going to have a momentous collapse.
I know it's not a popular opinion, nor does it even seem like a sensible one right now. They haven't been tested yet. They've been too good at blowing teams out to have that many close games. Call me crazy but if the Thunder had a full team apart from KD - I think they would've taken them. There's absolutely no way in hell Russell 'the whole world hates me I'll show them' Westbrook would let Curry outplay him. So they get a free pass in round one, and again will not face many close tight end game situations. To me, that does not bode well at all. They may be all buddy buddy now but there's going to be some yapping going on when they become frustrated when they aren't knocking down 15 threes per game and having Curry slice and dice wherever he wants to go. Klay Thompson is going to be exposed these playoffs. I repeat. Klay Thompson somewhere along in these playoffs is going to have a James Harden vs Miami Heat NBA Finals series - and it's going to be an absolute joy to watch. inb4allmyfeelingsarewayoffandwarriorsgo16-0withklaytakingfinalsmvp
I can't stand the Warriors, but they have so much talent. They are incredible. I think the only team that can take them out is the Spurs. SAS finish 4th or 5th and have a series similar to the one in the 13' playoffs. Rockets can beat SAS with their athletic bigs. Won't beat the Warriors with their lack of perimeter defense at the PG/SG spot.
As much as people will disagree with me, I don't even think the Spurs have the legs to beat the Golden State 4 times in 7 games. The Warriors actually have a bench and the Spurs really cannot neutralize their best players. The team who could give Golden State the most problems ... the Clippers and the Rockets.
Agree. I don't see a team from either conference that can take the Warriors in a 7 game series. Barring injury, I have them going all the way.
Without a healthy Dwight Howard and add a Josh Smith. Motiejunas is a good big body off the bench, along with Jones. I think the Rockets have as good shot of beating the Warriors as the Spurs. I don't think they matchup as well as people would like to think. Even with Kawaii Leonard, the Warriors are still stacked in the backcourt with untouchable athleticism. The Rockets are little younger with more versatile players.
I hate the warriors man, but I'll admit I don't see the rockets getting passed them just because their offense flow is better and they have better shooters. I can see the Spurs game planning well enough to take down the warriors but then I can totally see the rockets beating the spurs too because of match ups. I don't think NBA math works in this case, matchs up become too important. We can beat the spurs because they wont have anyone that can handle dwight's physicality down low or slow down harden. They wont slow down harden bc his points come off a lot of ISO ball and shot creating which almost becomes impossible to stop when that player is on, However, the spurs can game plan against the warriors because they run a specific offensive system that can be countered by a coach like Pops. All their players rely on running the offense effectively to get points, Curry isn't going to burn you all day long on 1 on 1 ISO ball movement. Pops can figure out how to defend against all the off ball movement of Curry and Thompson. This is where they get a lot of their points and are damn effective at it because they are both pure shooters. Now the reason the Rockets can't be the warriors is our coaching is not good enough, McHale is not going to be able to react fast enough to avoid getting blown out and have the game get way out of hand by the 2nd or 3rd quarter. Andrew bogut will be more effective against Dwight than Tiago Splitter or Tim Duncan.
