After a slow start to the playoffs, it appears as though things are getting a bit more competitive in the second round. All four of the series ended up in a split through the first two games, but perhaps the most impressive team so far has been the Golden State Warriors.
As a #6 seed, the Warriors are the lowest seed left in the playoffs. Many questioned how good they could be with such a young cast that relied on jump shots, but so far they have handled Denver and hung with San Antonio.
Health has played the biggest role in Golden State’s emergence as a legitimate Western Conference contender. In the past few seasons, injuries to Stephen Curry and Andrew Bogut have limited two of their better players. With players around the NBA like Derrick Rose, Russell Westbrook and Amare Stoudemire all out with injuries, the Warriors right now are one of the healthiest teams remaining.
The old adage in the NBA has always been that teams can’t win with an offense that relies on jump shots. Golden State does not defend particularly well (middle of the pack in most statistics), so to have success, they need to hit their jumpers. Fortunately, Curry is getting help from a number of other sharpshooters on the team to make them a lethal matchup problem.
Game Two against the Spurs is a perfect example of other players stepping up. Despite Curry’s somewhat off night (7-20 shooting for 22 points disappointed those who had taken him in https://www.fanduel.com/
There are still a lot of reasons to doubt a team built around perimeter shooting, but Golden State has definitely been dominating the talk of the NBA Playoffs. It will be interesting to see how they play in front of their home fans with a legitimate chance to advance to the Western Conference Finals.
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