NBA Playoffs 2017: 5 things we learned from the Warriors sweep of the Jazz

1. Golden State will be undefeated heading into the NBA Finals

This isn’t some kind of hot take, it’s something I truly believe from the bottom of my heart. It doesn’t matter which team wins the other Western Conference Semifinal, Houston or San Antonio, the Warriors will sweep either team. It doesn’t matter that the Warriors went 1-2 against the Spurs in the regular season or that they lost one against the Rockets. The Warriors look like they’re on a mission to steal everyone’s lunch money and it doesn’t matter who.

Eight game up, eight games down for Golden State so far. They look across the country and see what the team in Cleveland is doing and are trying to one-up them every night they take the floor. In their eight wins so far in the playoffs, it doesn’t look like they’ve even broken a sweat. Every night the Warriors step on the floor in the Western Conference playoffs, they have the two best players on the floor and that’s all that matters.

Let’s assume the Rockets close out this series against the Spurs and advance to the Western Conference Finals. The Warriors will only have to worry about one guy and that’s MVP-candidate James Harden. Houston has lost the only bit of toughness on their team, Nene, for the remainder of the playoffs. The Rockets are a one-trick pony, who doesn’t have a backup plan if their three-pointer isn’t falling consistently. Defensively, Houston is inept and doesn’t have the firepower to stop Golden State for even one game.

Now let’s look at the flip-side and assume that the Spurs win two out of the next three games against the Rockets and advance to the Western Conference Finals. The Spurs’ biggest advantage might be a non-player in head coach Greg Popovich. The Warriors are only threatened by one player and that’s Kawhi Leonard. In their last matchup, it seemed like the Dubs figured out a strategy to slow down Leonard from having an impact offensively. San Antonio’s also lost it’s starting point guard, Tony Parker, for the playoffs. Their big men are older and too slow to switch out on to the Warriors’ guards and they’ll likely get abused on the perimeter.

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Let’s not kid ourselves, Golden State’s already thinking ahead to Cleveland and in their minds, they’ve already swept either Houston or San Antonio. It doesn’t matter which team wins the other ongoing Western Conference series, the Warriors won’t let them win a game in the Conference Finals.