NBA Finals 2017: 5 reasons the Warriors can find redemption
By Ian Levy
For nearly a year, the Warriors have had to listen to jokes about blowing a 3-1 Finals lead and taken heat for signing away one of the five best players in the league. Win four more games and it all goes away.
After an 82-game regular season and three playoff rounds loaded with blowouts, we’re right where we all expected to end up — Warriors vs. Cavaliers, Vol. 3. The Warriors won the 2015 NBA Championship, beating an injury-ravaged Cavs team. Last season, with Stephen Curry ailing, a historic comeback by LeBron James and Cleveland robbed Golden State of the chance to repeat.
The Warriors spent last summer and this entire season preparing for this moment and a chance at redemption. Here are five reasons why they’re ready to pull it off.
5. The offense
It’s been the best kept secret in the league for the past few years, but the Golden State Warriors can really shoot the ball. By other offensive metrics — turnover percentage, offensive rebound percentage, free throw rate — they’ve been roughly average but their effective field goal percentage is tied for the best ever (with themselves, from last season). The offensive efficiency is tied with the 1986-87 Los Angeles Lakers for the best mark ever. And, against a higher level of competition in the playoffs, they’ve been even better.
We’ve seen teams loaded with scorers before, but we’ve never seen one quite like this. Stephen Curry is perhaps the greatest shooter who has ever lived, but he’s also a savvy scorer and distributor off the dribble who can attack a mismatch in a variety of ways. Kevin Durant can score from anywhere, over anyone. If it weren’t for Curry, Klay Thompson might have a legitimate claim to be the best shooter of all time. Oh, and Draymond Green is skilled passer who is also, somehow, knocking down 3s at an absurd rate during the playoffs.
There are no holes to exploit. There are no levers to pull. The are no solutions. The Warriors are going to put up points.