By: Yama Hazheer
Some narratives get old. The Oklahoma City Thunder gained depth and help in their frontcourt by making moves to solidify themselves as a threat in the playoffs after the trade deadline. The San Antonio Spurs are the defending champs and never seem to show any signs of slowing down when the actual playoffs start. The Portland Trail Blazers can kill you from beyond the arc and pass it down low to LaMarcus Aldridge. The Memphis Grizzlies are a team that will get chippy with you and have the best big-man duo in the game. And the Houston Rockets have the MVP in James Harden. All of these are realistic statements (except maybe that last one, Stephen Curry’s existence helps fight that claim) made by players, coaches, analysts, and fans across the world.
Meanwhile, the humble team out of the Bay Area is constantly looked down upon for being a jump-shooting team. Charles Barkley is notorious to Warriors fans as the guy who didn’t believe in them in 2007 and took numerous shots at the players, fanbase, and even the Bay Area. He frequently puts them down now as a realistic threat to win it all.
Barkley is the last of the Warriors worries, though. Whether you’re watching a sports talk show, listening to one on the radio, or scrolling through your Twitter feed, you hear and read the same old stuff.
The Warriors should do their best to avoid OKC or the Spurs in the first round.
Golden State beat the Thunder three times this season before losing their last one in Oklahoma City. The Dubs nearly swept the Thunder. The Warriors were dominated by San Antonio the first time they played this season, but Golden State has been a completely different team since. They defeated the mighty Spurs and made them look like a non-playoff team at Oracle. But the score was much closer than the game seemed as the Warriors were outscored by 10 points in the fourth quarter, and still won by double digits.
Stephen Curry has had a bad defender label ever since he entered the league. While his offensive game has been taken to considerable heights in the professional game that not even scouts expected, Curry has become a better on-ball defender. He took the task of defending Tony Parker in that game and held him to two points and without a field goal. Curry himself, almost had a double double . . . in the first half.
remember alex, neither the thunder nor the spurs had their full squads out there against the W’s. the Warriors haven’t been playing like a playoff winning team since the break. it’s concerning because something seems out of sync! the new player(s) they needed weren’t mcadoo nor holiday, their latest additions. who is the backup center…ezeli? that’s scary! they needed players they didn’t get. all the other contenders, except the Warriors and hawks, made those deals for those players!
Winning in the playoffs will give the Warriors more respect. The western conference is so deep, that just surviving to the conference finals would be a status builder, whether Charles Barkley says so or not. Dubs have a great shot to go deep this year but there are no softies to face in the playoffs like in the other conference.