Warriors Will Be Hard To Beat In Playoffs

The NBA tradeline came and went on Thursday.  There was only one earth-shattering trade, and that belonged to the New Orleans Pelicans picking up talented big man Demarcus Cousins after the NBA All-Star game from the Sacramento Kings.  The Pelicans (23-35) currently sit 2.5 games out of the eighth playoff slot and could possibly face Golden State (48-9) in the first round if they make the playoffs.   The Houston Rockets picked up scoring option Lou Williams to provide depth off the bench in Mike D'Antoni's fast-paced offense making them a tad better.  Lebron and Cleveland did not make any trades which is baffling considering they were blown out by Golden State in their last matchup 126-91.  They did not appear to be in the same stratosphere as the Warriors.  Immediately afterward, Lebron started berating team management for help.  Did anyone better themselves to compete with the NBA's best team?

The Warriors took on the Los Angeles Clippers (35-22) at Oracle Arena last night and won 123-113.  The team exploded for 50 points in the third quarter to rob the Clippers of a sure victory.  Golden State had a season-high 46 points in transition Thursday night, including 17 in the third quarter. The Warriors also finished with 31 assists, their league-best 37th game this season with at least 30 dimes; no other team has more than 10 30-assist games this season. The Warriors appear to be hitting their stride.  Scoring comes easy as they lead the league in scoring with 118.3 ppg.  Kevin Durant, the missing piece to another championship, is averaging 25.7 ppg followed by reigning MVP Stephen Curry's 24.7 ppg and All-Star Klay Thompson's 22.0 ppg.  Draymond Green is playing tremendously as he leads the team in assists with 7.2 apg and 2.1 steals per game.  The best thing about this team is that they share the ball.  As a team, the Warriors lead the league in assists per game with 31.0.  The Houston Rockets come in second with 25.5.  You would think this team would be a bunch of ego driven maniacs, but instead, they are playing for one thing....win a ring by any means necessary.  If there is a weakness on this team, it would be consistent low post scoring from Zaza Pachulia and Javale McGee which be huge against the new Twin Towers Anthony Davis/Demarcus Cousins of the Pelicans or against San Antonio's Lamarcus Aldridge.

In the playoffs, anything can happen.  Seven game series can tell a lot about a team as we saw during last year's NBA Finals as the Warriors lost a 3-1 lead.  However, the Warriors shooting dreadful in every game during a playoff series is impossible.  Expect to see the team coming together and not allow last year's failure to repeat.  Unless there is a significant injury among the four All-Stars, there is not a team in the NBA that can beat the Warriors in a seven-game series.