Golden State Warriors – Defense
Instead of reading “defense”, the line above could simply read “everything”. The Warriors have been far and away the best team in the NBA this season, posting a 60-13 record to run away with the top overall seed in the league. Golden State leads the association in net rating, outscoring opponents by 12.2 points per 100 possessions (nearly double any other team in the NBA), and they have flirted with being the number one team in both offense and defense.
For purposes of this exercise, we will focus on defense, where Steve Kerr has this crew playing at an incredible level. Golden State has led the league on this end of the floor all season, allowing only 97.4 points per 100, and the Warriors have produced a legitimate defensive player of the year candidate in Draymond Green. Hilariously, Green may not be the best defender on his own team, as Andrew Bogut is operating at an incredible pace defensively while the Warriors look to keep him healthy by limiting his playing time.
Green, Bogut and even names like Andre Iguodala and Klay Thompson can be considered high-end defenders by any metric, and with improvements from the likes of Stephen Curry (perhaps the MVP front-runner) and Harrison Barnes, good luck scoring against the Warriors.
Next: Houston