Winning 17 out of their last 18 games and boasting an NBA best 22-3 record, the Golden State Warriors look as if they can’t be stopped. The Warriors were on a 16-game win streak when the unstoppable force met the immovable object – the Memphis Grizzlies. With Memphis being the second best team in the NBA as well as the second best team in the Western Conference (21-4), which other west coast teams have a chance to take down the Warriors in a playoff matchup?
The biggest strength the Warriors posses is their depth. Warriors coach Steve Kerr has juiced every drop of production out of players like Draymond Green, Marreese Speights, Festus Ezeli and Harrison Barnes, who are all having career years.
The only team that provides more quality bench production is, you guessed it, the San Antonio Spurs. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich showed the NBA over the past few years, much to their disliking, that he can rest his best players (Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan) and still win the Western Conference and the NBA Championship.
In a seven game series the Spurs would give the Warriors the best challenge. The Spurs, much like the Warriors, have the ability to score in bunches, but prefer to run a slow, methodical, half-court offense.
The Warriors are somewhat opposite. While they can run half-court sets – many of them high pick-n-rolls for Stephen Curry at the 3-point line – they prefer to get their buckets on the fast break. When the Warriors are running, not much can be done to stop them… not even throwing a shoe.
Where the Warriors would have trouble with the Spurs is with Tim Duncan. If Andrew Bogut endures another season ending injury, undersized power forward Draymond Green will stand no chance.
Where the Spurs would have trouble with the Warriors lies in the backcourt. Is the combination of Tony Parker and Danny Green/Manu Ginobili determined enough to stick on Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson? The Spurs backcourt will have to fight through innumerable screens, because switching on those screens is bad news.
The other case in the past the Spurs could have made was on defense, but those times are gone. The Warriors actually lead the NBA in defensive rating while the Spurs stand in fourth.
If and when the Warriors and Spurs meet in the playoffs, it will be close, but the Warriors will be able to come out on top thanks to their prolific scoring and young legs.
Overall, in the Western Conference the only team that stands a real chance to hang with the Warriors in a seven game series is the San Antonio Spurs.
What about the Grizzlies? They’re the second best team in the NBA. Unfortunately for the Grizzlies, their “stagnant at times offense” would be taken apart by the high-powered offense of the Warriors.
Looking at the numbers from when the Warriors and Grizzlies played, someone who didn’t watch the game would say “The Warriors only shot 41% that night and only 29% from behind the 3-point line because the Grizz defense shut them down.” Sadly that just wasn’t the case. The Warriors couldn’t find the basket even if they had a map. On a normal night the Warriors would be able to score with a little more ease, and come playoff time the Grizzlies will do what they do best and lose in the first round.
The Warriors have the best backcourt in Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, they have a fiery and knowledgeable coach, they lead the league in defensive rating, and they lead the league in wins. The Golden State Warriors are the best show in basketball and they don’t show any signs of slowing down.
Good luck everybody else.
