golden state warriors finals? (Photo: Terry Schmitt / San Francisco Chronicle, 1975)
Outside of the Bay Area, the Golden State Warriors once were considered nothing more than a really exciting team to go see live. That’s now starting to change.
A quick glance at some of the major national media outlets is now showcasing the Warriors as legitimate title contenders.
Maybe its the recent ten-game winning streak, the second longest winning streak in team history.
Maybe it’s the 6-1 Eastern road trip just completed.
Regardless, all the pieces of a championship team, from defense to scoring to depth have been on display the last few weeks and the pundits are taking notice. Now the question among many is why shouldn’t the Warriors be mentioned among the NBA heavyweights?
In his recent column at Grantland, Zach Lowe asks this very question, “Why not the Warriors?”
“…Which brings me to a question that has been nagging me, and I suspect lots of other hard-core NBA types, over the last couple of weeks: Why not the Warriors? Why can’t Golden State make the Finals and even win the championship this season? Is there a legitimate answer that isn’t some version of, ‘Because they’re the Warriors, and the Warriors always lose’?”
Winning on the road in the NBA and doing it often separates the elite teams from the middle of the pack ones.
“The Warriors, fresh off a 10-game winning streak and one of the great road trips in NBA history, look more and more like a true-blue contender. They certainly think of themselves that way. ‘The playoffs was the goal for us last season,’ Andrew Bogut says. ‘But this season, we’re trying to get to the pinnacle of the NBA, and that’s winning a championship.'”
As Brandon Parker of the Washington Post points out, the recent road trip success has the Warriors looking more and more like one of the elite teams.
“The mantra among coaches is that teams look to play their best basketball come playoff time in April. But with Golden State’s winning streak vaulting it within one game of the first-place Los Angeles Clippers in the Pacific Division and road-game success serving as a key attribute for postseason success, for some, the Warriors suddenly have the look of a championship contender.”
In addition, when the team has had its starting core intact, it’s steam rolled through the league’s opposition on both sides of the court.
“That starting unit — Andrew Bogut, Stephen Curry, Andre Iguodala, David Lee and Klay Thompson — has gone 19-3 [EDITOR’S NOTE: now 20-5] when all five are in uniform. And while the Warriors, led by ‘Splash Brothers’ Curry and Thompson, have built an identity as a high-scoring, three-point-shooting team, they have demonstrated defensive proficiency by holding a league-best 15 teams to worse than 40 percent shooting in games.”
It’s these stats that make it hard-pressed to find any recent NBA rankings where the Warriors are ranked lower than 3rd. ESPN Power Rankings has them currently 2nd only behind the Indiana Pacers.
It may only be January and what the media thinks doesn’t guarantee squat, but it just shows how far this team has come in two seasons.
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