Kevin Durant wants you to know the Golden State Warriors aren’t NBA Finals locks.
They aren’t locks for anything, period.
Most had the Warriors ticketed for another championship at the start of this season. Even now, with the Houston Rockets having clinched the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, it’s tough for some to imagine an NBA Finals that doesn’t include Golden State. But Durant acknowledged it’s possible while speaking with USA Today‘s Sam Amick:
“We know how good Houston is,” he began. “We know how good OKC is. We know how good Utah (is), because we play these guys, you know what I’m saying? That’s why we know the narratives, because we come in and we play Utah and we know they’ve gone 22-4 (now 22-5) since they beat us (on Jan. 30).
“It’s cool that people (looked) at us like we’re invincible, but we’re not, and you see it with the injuries that we have. We’re not superhuman. I think when we play basketball the right way, we’re damn good. But if we don’t come out there and focus, we can lose to anybody, and you’ve seen that.”
Durant isn’t just blowing smoke. Nor is he trying to create fake demons for the juggernaut Warriors to battle. (That’s Draymond Green’s job.) Golden State is more vulnerable than anticipated. He’s not kidding.
It starts with Stephen Curry’s Grade 2 MCL sprain. The Warriors are a different team without him. He remains the foundation for everything they do offensively. Defenses have to guard them differently by him merely being on the floor. Slogging on without him will be an adjustment in the first round.
To that end, there aren’t a ton of first-round matchups that should scare the Curry-less Warriors. The Oklahoma City Thunder would be tough. So, too, would the San Antonio Spurs if they drop that far, to No. 7—particularly if they ever get Kawhi Leonard back. Some consider the Denver Nuggets a viable threat, too.
Really, though, the Warriors’ greatest concerns lie beyond the first round. Can they beat the Portland Trail Blazers or Rockets or Spurs without Curry or with a suboptimal version of Curry? And what about the rest of their health issues? Patrick McCaw, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala and Omri Casspi are all in the middle of stints on the shelf. How many of them will be fully healthy at the start of the postseason?
Make no bones about it, the Warriors should still be considered Western Conference favorites. But punching their ticket to the NBA Finals now, with so much basketball left in front of them and so many question marks attached to their roster, feels unexpectedly premature.
