73-9. This is the greatest regular season record in NBA history. Who holds this legendary record? If you follow sports and have not been living under a rock, then you know the team -- none other than the Golden State Warriors. Golden State is led by the always improving power-forward Draymond Green. At the shooting guard position we have the first half of the splash bros in Klay Thompson, who scored 37 points in a single quarter (12 minutes for those who do not follow sports). Then there is the captain of the team and sometimes larger-than-life figure Stephen Curry, who was recently awarded the first ever unanimous MVP in NBA history.
With all of these feats attached to them, a casual observer would tend to think this team is simply unbeatable... right? Wrong. The Warriors are currently facing elimination from the playoffs, being down three games to one against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Draymond Green is one flagrant foul call from being suspended from a game, although Green as of late has been a no factor for the Warriors. While Curry and Thompson have been nowhere near the talent level fans are use to seeing.
People are likely to start coming up with excuses for why the Warriors could be falling flat on their face right now. These excuses include Curry not being at 100 percent or the Warriors used too much energy during the regular season in trying to reach 73 wins, the referees are against the Warriors... etc.
I am going to explain why some of these excuses are complete and utter nonsense and should just be thrown out the window by Warrior fans First of all, people have to start giving OKC credit where credit is due. Westbrook, Durant, Kanter and Adams are elevating their level of play at the right time. The victory over Dallas was expected but winning the series over the Spurs, a 67 win team, has given this Thunder squad the confidence the team needs.
The Thunder have been a great rebounding team all season, leading the league in both offensive rebounding rate and overall rebounding rate. http://espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/teamstats/_/sort/... So, the Thunder are getting multiple chances at scoring on the offensive end and the other end of the floor are reducing the amount of shots Golden State can create.
As far as "wasting" their energy during the regular season goes, the Warriors seemed to have enough energy for the first two rounds of the playoffs. When they are actually facing elimination is when they are finally losing their energy. Seems a tad odd to me when this excuse comes out.
If anyone is on Golden State's side, it is clearly the Referees and the NBA. Draymond clearly kicked Thunder center Steven Adams in the groin area and yet all he gets essentially is a slap on the wrist. Green in fact seems to have tripped backup center Enes Kanter intentionally in game four, but the NBA just wants to avoid a media circus and lets this one slide.
All in all I believe the Warriors will win at home in Game 5, but fall to Thunder in Game 6. OKC is simply throwing so many weapons at Golden State that the Warriors are simply becoming flustered that they actually have to put some effort in a basketball game.
Hopefully this series knocks the whole Warriors organization down a peg or two.
