Warriors approaching halfway point. Will they bring home the W?
January 17, 2018
Halfway into the 2017-18 NBA basketball season, the Golden State Warriors are once again the favorite to win another NBA Championship. It is possibly their third in the last four years.
They have the number one record in the league at 36-9, which is key in getting home court advantage throughout the playoffs.
One of the key players so far this year has been Kevin Durant, who made history with becoming the second youngest player in the NBA to get 20,000 points against the Los Angeles Clippers last week. Durant is scoring at an average of 26.3 points per game in addition to approximately seven rebounds and five blocks. His success is getting consideration for NBA Defensive Player of the year with his biggest fan being Draymond Green.
Similarly, power forward Green continues to be the Warriors mouthpiece and is scoring 11.1 points per game, about seven rebounds per game and about seven assists per game.
Shooting guard Klay Thompson proves to be a consistent player on both offense and defense and has quietly raised his scoring average to 20.6 points per game.
Meanwhile, the most important player on the team, point guard Stephen Curry, reappeared on the court two weeks ago, scoring 45 points in the game, over 50 percent from the field and threes for his first five games back.
The Warriors biggest competition right now in the Western Conference are the Houston Rockets and the San Antonio Spurs. The Rockets are dealing with a couple setbacks, like James Harden’s hamstring injury, which will take a significant time to heal. With a healthy roster come playoff time it appears the Rockets may finally replace the Spurs in the West as the Warriors biggest threat. The Spurs are talented, but age has finally slowed them down. Although they might not make it to the Western Conference Finals, we shouldn’t underestimate them.
On the other hand, it’s a different story in the Eastern Conference this year with the Cleveland Cavaliers somewhat underachieving and team’s, such as the Boston Celtics and Toronto Raptors, significantly improving in comparison to last season’s accomplishments. It may not be the Warriors and the Cavaliers for a fourth year in a row in the Finals as both the Celtics and Raptors look to take the Cavaliers down. The Celtics are playing at their highest level than they have been in a long time with a record of 34-11. If Celtics small forward Gordon Hayward had not sustained a broken ankle in the first game of the season against the Cavaliers, they would be that much more of a threat.
With time, the Warriors only get better. They’re still the number one team in both defense and offense and haven’t lost back to back games all year. The 2018 All Star starters will be announced on Jan. 18 at 6 p.m. and the Dubs will more than likely make an appearance.
More so than any team in the league, potential injuries will be the biggest threat to the Warriors’ domination of the league. The only Warriors starter who has not missed any games due to injury this year is Thompson. If the Warriors secure home court advantage again and are healthy come playoff time, the likeliness of securing another championship is unquestionable.
