As if anyone needed reminding which team enters the play-offs as the NBA’s most convincing favourite, the Golden State Warriors offered fresh perspective. They won 15 of their final 16 regular season games.
Most of those victories also came without their special new buddy, Kevin Durant, who only returned last Saturday from a late-February knee injury.
And how does Durant look after playing in three games? A 29-points-in-27-minutes performance in the Warriors’ final regular season game, against the Los Angeles Lakers, ended that mystery.
The NBA does offer a surprise every now and then, but as the post-season begins this weekend, it is headache-inducing to imagine anyone taking down the Warriors in a seven-game series.
They locked up the Western Conference’s No 1 seed by six games over the San Antonio Spurs, and became the first team in history to win at least 67 games in three consecutive seasons.
They continued to hone their reputation as the league’s prototypical, modern winning machine, outscoring everyone at 115.9 points per game.
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Despite all those three-point shots, they also led the league in field goal percentage. And, oh by the way, they led the league in a pair of defensive categories — blocks and steals — that adds critical possessions to their All-Star shooters, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Durant.
Golden State’s hardest work on the way to their second championship in three years will likely come inside their own conference.
Their first-round series against the Portland Trailblazers is considerably more treacherous than a 1-8 seed match-up should be.
The Blazers were a listless, losing non-contender before trading for centre Jusuf Nurkic in late February and riding his elevated game into the final play-off spot. Nurkic missed the last seven games of the season with a leg injury, but presumably will be ready for Golden State. Will it matter? Probably not.
The San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets also presumably lie in wait for Golden State. The Spurs always play smart and Kawhi Leonard will be quietly spectacular.
For Houston, Most Valuable Player candidate James Harden will have the ball in his hands so much you would think it was attached with a rubber band.
The Warriors will not care. They should be doubly on task after letting the Cleveland Cavaliers swipe their title away last spring.
Golden State also will have Durant doggedly seeking his own, first championship ring. Durant, 28, did not leave the Oklahoma City Thunder, where he was the face of the franchise for nine years, for any reason other than crying like a baby in a mid-June celebration.
After his 11-for-16 shooting night on Wednesday, including five-of-seven from three-point range, Durant told reporters” “I feel like I can go to another level.” Uh-oh.
Once the Warriors’ work is done in the West, they should be home free in the Finals. The Eastern Conference appears under-manned, and oddly with the Cleveland Cavaliers, under-inspired.
Last year’s champions have been sleepwalking for the past month. After beating the Celtics in Boston to recapture the No 1 seed, the Cavaliers dropped their final four games and finished second in the conference.
Perhaps they believe they can turn their skills on when they want. If so, they would not have surrendered a 26-point fourth-quarter lead last Sunday to the Atlanta Hawks and lost in overtime with LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love all playing.
Then there is top-seeded Boston, who do not have a winning record this year against any team they would likely face in the post-season.
The NBA champions will come from the West in June, and the Warriors will make it look easy.
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