The Golden State Warriors aren’t just facing the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals this summer.
For the second time in as many years the Warriors find themselves competing against history. And once again a championship will be the final criteria.
From both a statistical and anecdotal standpoint the Golden State Warriors are making a case for being the most dominant team in NBA history, provided they can finish the deal and beat the Cavaliers in the Finals. On the backs of Steph Curry and Kevin Durant the Warriors are 27-1 in their last 28 games and started the playoffs a perfect 12-0. They will enter Thursday’s Game 1 one win away from tying the record for consecutive playoff wins.
The 2016-17 Warriors have won by a larger margin per 100 possessions than both their 2015 championship team and the 2016 team that won a regular-season record 73 wins. Currently, they’re beating opponents by 16.4 per 100 possessions— the most ever— and this postseason they’ve won by double digits ten times.
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Since the league has tabulated net rating the only teams to come close to being as dominant as these Warriors are Michael Jordan’s 1996-1997 Bulls and Kobe and Shaq’s 2001 Lakers.
The ’96 Bulls, as you know, won 72 games during the regular season. They also lost three games in the playoffs, something that would only be the case for the Warriors if these Finals go seven games.That Bulls team is eighth all-time in playoff win percentage and their net rating of 12.1 is far off the pace of the current Warriors.
The 2001 Lakers team that, like the Warriors, went to Finals undefeated won by an average of 13.8 points. They also only won just 56 regular season games. What’s more, the those teams beat two of the weakest teams to make the Finals in the modern era (the ’01 Sixers and ’96 Sonics).
Part of what would cement the Warriors status is that their championship would come over an also historically-great team in the Cleveland.
The Cavs currently have been the best offensive team we’ve ever seen in the playoffs with an off-the-charts 122.7 offensive rating, and an impressive 14.3 net rating.
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Cleveland is just a great team, but feature arguably the hottest individual opponent to make the Finals. So far this post-season LeBron James has already tied records for most consecutive 30-point playoff games (set by Michael Jordan) and most consecutive 25-point games while shooting 50 per cent from the field (set by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar). Against the Raptors in the second round James became the first player to ever score 35 plus points in every game of a four-game sweep.
Both teams enter the Finals 24-1 this post-season, the best combined record.
But only the Warriors can say that when Game 1 tips they’ll have spent 52 straight days without losing. And they’ve barely been pushed, trailing in only four of their last nine games…for just 63 of 432 minutes.
When it matters most they are the best. They’ve been the best first-quarter team (plus-31.2 points per 100 possessions) and the best fourth-quarter team (plus-19.8) in the playoffs. They’ve won in the first quarter in nine of their 12 playoff games and have done so by double-digits in seven.
Led by four of he best 20 players in the league, the Warriors play defence and move the ball like the dynasty Spurs, and have the top-end talent of the Lakers at their peak. We might remember Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman as the best team ever but the numbers say these Warriors are superior.
During their recent reign they’ve produced the most wins over any three-year period in NBA history. But these next two weeks could be special, because they could cement their case as the greatest NBA champion of all-time.