The 2016-17 Golden State Warriors aren’t the same flashy trapeze artists they were the two seasons prior. They’ve lost a few more games this year and 73 wins is already out of the question. But make no mistake, they are decimating the NBA and playing at a higher level than they ever have.
A commitment to the process, making the simple play instead of the spectacular as Steve Kerr puts it, has the Warriors leading the league in every major category:
Points per game — 118.6
Field goal percentage — 50.1
Assists — 31.1
Steals — 9.5
Blocks — 6.5
Offensive efficiency — 114.3
Effective field goal percentage — 57.1
Wins — 46
Kerr put his foot down and has been more demanding than ever of his players in his third season at the helm. Year 1, he was just settling in as a first-time head coach. Year 2, he missed the first half of the season and upon his return, let the Warriors continue to play Luke Walton’s brand streetball. In Year 3, Kerr is finally fully back in the saddle and he’s conducting one of the finest symphonies the NBA has ever seen.
The purpose of this, of course, is that last season the Warriors developed some bad habits throughout the regular season and they bled through in the final minutes of a Game 7 collapse to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Steph Curry and Klay Thompson played hero ball, well because, hero ball had worked the last two seasons for the best two shooters in the world, and in the previous series against OKC.
While fourth quarter crunchtime scenarios remain a question mark for now, hero ball is no longer the Warriors crutch. Four teams are averaging more three-point attempts than Golden State this season. Playing a more balanced, simple form of basketball — still at an unbelievably fast pace — has drowned opponents. They can’t keep up.
The Warriors still look and feel like the Warriors. They’ll get Oracle Arena revved up with a rain storm of 3s. But Durant’s arrival has added a type of consistency nobody could’ve fully envisioned. It took a little bit of time for Curry to figure out how to give up a large portion of his pie and still maintain his aggressiveness with the basketball, but he’s mastered it. Durant’s arrival has allowed Draymond Green to focus more than ever on defense. Klay Thompson is averaging the same exact amount of shots per game (17.3) as he did last season.
By every accord except highlights and regular season wins, this is a better basketball team than a year ago. Everything has been seamless for this Warriors. But as we’re all well aware of in the Bay Area, the regular season is about as significant as the NFL preseason.
This longwinded but necessary introduction brings us to the one major test standing in the way of a Warriors-Cavs trilogy in June: The Spurs.
One team in the league is shooting a better 3-point percentage than the Warriors. One team has a better defensive efficiency rating than the Warriors. One team has embarrassed the Warriors on the basketball court this season, a 129-100 trouncing on opening night.
The latest version of Gregg Popovich’s creative genius is the last greatest unknown facing Year 1 of the Kevin Durant Warriors. Without Tim Duncan, Popovich has rearranged his chess board and defied critics who thought the window had finally closed. As long as the Spurs get past the Rockets, the Western Conference Finals could end up being just as tough of a challenge as OKC was last May. They cannot be underestimated.
Forget about Russell Westbrook’s triple-doubles or James Harden’s evolution as a Steve Nash hybrid point guard: Kawhi Leonard is the most improved player in the NBA. The 25-year-old has taken a giant leap offensively while maintaining his status as the best perimeter defender in the league. In 10 of his last 14 games, Leonard has scored 30 points or more. On a nightly basis, Leonard is swarming the opposing team’s best player while also carrying the Spurs on offense. A year ago, he couldn’t go tit-for-tat with Durant in a playoff series. Now, he’s showing that he can.
Durant’s the best natural scorer of his generation and the more established player, but remember, Leonard is the more decorated postseason competitor. Leonard was the Finals MVP in 2014, putting LeBron James in a straitjacket on the national stage in a 4-1 series that easily could’ve been a sweep.
“It’s like he just played free,” Dwyane Wade said at the time. “He’s the future of this team.”
Also don’t forget this: LaMarcus Aldridge’s numbers have dipped slightly this season and he’s no longer a fixture at the All-Star game, but he’s one of the tougher matchups for the Warriors. At 6-foot-11, he’s able to get good midrange looks on Green based purely on height advantage alone. Aldridge scored 26 points and secured 14 rebounds. Pau Gasol’s length can present problems. The Spurs will force the Warriors to put more big men on the court than they’re comfortable with. Extended minutes for Zaza Pachulia and JaVale McGee could be a requirement.
The counter argument is obvious: The Spurs don’t nearly have enough in the arsenal. Tony Parker and Manu Ginobli are hanging on by a thread and both could retire following the season. Is Patty Mills, Danny Green, David Lee and Jonathon Simmons really enough firepower to withstand the blender the Warriors put opponents in? San Antonio cannot keep up with the Warriors behind the 3-point line. It’s a game of math and the Warriors will win it.
Saturday’s triumph in Oklahoma City over the Thunder — on the second night of a back-to-back — brought the Warriors closer together. The word ‘cupcake’ and the response to it in the locker room is the consummate example of Golden State’s unshakable team chemistry. Durant, and the venom he’s faced, has been woven into the fabric into this team. A loss in the NBA Finals has hardened this team for the better.
When the time comes in May, though, it will take more than team chemistry and talent to mow down Popovich and Leonard. It’ll take the same resolve it took trailing 3-1 to the Thunder a year ago; the same focus and and commitment to the process that they forget along the way against Cleveland last June; some new and innovative X’s and O’s by Kerr to combat one of his coaching mentors.
No one is doubting the Warriors. But they can’t be handed their golden ticket to the NBA Finals until we see them tackle the Spurs. And that’s the only test standing in the way of them and LeBron James.