MUST READ: 2018 Offseason: The Durant Era Warriors Have Never Been Unbeatable

I was among the people (basically everyone) who thought that the Warriors would cakewalk through the west and then easily win the 2017 finals. That belief was justified since Kevin Durant, the 2nd best player in the NBA at that time (he still is), joined a 72 win team that had the reigning unanimous MVP (Stephen Curry) who had arguably the greatest offensive season ever in 2015-16 which solidified his spot as the premier 3-point shooter in history. Golden State also employed Klay Thompson who established himself as the 2nd best 3-point shooter ever during that season. He also scored 21+ points per game in 2014-15 and the next season. Dub Nation might’ve had the best offensive system the league has seen, which is still the case. In addition, they were great defensively because they had the 4th ranked defensive rating in 2015-16.

However, the Spurs won 61 games in 2016-17, only 6 fewer than the Warriors. Kawhi Leonard was a legit MVP candidate, LaMarcus Aldridge showed he was still an all-star level player, and as a team they had the #1 defensive rating. During the 3rd quarter Golden State faced a 21 point deficit in game 1 of the 2017 conference finals until Kawhi suffered a season ending injury so the Dubs effortlessly swept them. I’m not saying San Antonio would’ve won (I picked them to lose in 6 games prior to game 1), but the outcome of the series was going to be in question with Kawhi as the series progressed. The Cavs only won a game in the sort-of-competitive 2017 finals mainly because they won 16 fewer games than the Warriors while playing in the vastly inferior conference. Therefore, our worry that an Oakland parade was inevitable was vindicated only after Leonard’s injury.

James Harden won the 2018 MVP and is probably the most talented offensive 2-guard in history which is obvious but people don’t acknowledge that for whatever reason. Last season, Chris Paul proved he was still a top 5 point guard and the Rockets won a league high 65 games. After Houston took a 3-2 series lead against Golden State in the 2018 conference finals, it was revealed that Paul was out for the rest of the series because of his game 5 injury with about a minute left in the 4th quarter. The Rockets only lost by 9 points in game 7, after being blown out in game 6, primarily because they missed 37 3’s (27 of them in a row). That kind of ineptitude from 3-point range doesn’t happen with Chris because he was the one guy on that squad who didn’t mind shooting a ton of mid-range jumpers. (CP3 could be the most prolific mid-range shooter the NBA has seen, this needs to be discussed as well. Also, Mike D’Antoni has to rid his team of its “3’s and the paint only” mindset because it killed them in game 7. I might’ve been the only one who knew there was a good chance that mindset was going to rear its ugly head during the conference finals or NBA finals. In 2017-18, including the playoffs, Harden spent too much time dribbling in place before shooting a 3 that his defender knew was coming which is one of the reasons I predicted in the regular season that the Warriors would use 6 games to beat Houston in the conference finals. Although field goal attempts from beyond the arc and the paint are by far the most efficient, it’s normal for a team to take a reasonable amount of mid-range jump shots because the area between the 3-point line and the paint is there for a reason. That area makes up the majority of space within the 3-point arc so it’s foolish to basically abandon mid-range shots. Great defenses, like the Dubs when they play really focused, will run shooters off the 3-point line while preventing them from getting good looks in the paint leaving the middle area as the best option a lot of times).

Despite their flaws (the Warriors have them too), the Rockets would’ve likely beaten Golden State if not for Paul’s injury or an incredibly fluky 3-point shooting streak in game 7. The 2018 finals was a rematch from the prior year but Cleveland didn’t win a game mostly because their roster was much worse, due to Kyrie Irving’s departure, than the 2016-17 squad.

The upcoming season isn’t ruined because DeMarcus Cousins joined the defending champs. He’s dealing with an achilles tear so in 2018-19 there’s basically a 0% chance he comes close to his all-NBA form. Even though the immediate version of an injury free Cousins will be significantly better than any of the Warriors’ 2017-18 centers, he won't play his usual minutes because Dub Nation is at their best with their “Death Lineup” (there’s no “death” with slow big men who’ll struggle mightily to play in a switch-heavy scheme). On paper, Boston is the #1 team league wide while Toronto and Houston will win around 55+ games. Also, the 9th best team in the west (whoever that is) could win at least 50 games so stop complaining about the lack of competition Golden State has. You’ll ruin your experience for the impending season if you constantly worry about an “unbeatable” team that has a good chance of not winning the title.   

*The tenth best team in the west could also win 50 games or more depending on where Jimmy Butler ends up.        

All stats come from nba.com