Will the Warriors be taking on their toughest opponent of the Steve Kerr era when they face off against the Rockets in the Western Conference Finals?
The upcoming matchup between the Warriors and Rockets is one of the most anticipated Conference Finals in NBA history.
We’ve had a feeling that these two teams would fight for a trip to the Finals when Houston signed Chris Paul this offseason. And we knew that the Rockets would present a challenge for the Warriors when they came into Oracle Arena and defeated Golden State on opening night.
The Warriors have faced some major challenges in their run of two championships in the last three years, but is this their toughest one yet?
Looking at the numbers, the Rockets had a net rating of +8.6 this season thanks to their top-ranked offense (114.7) and sixth-ranked defense (106.1).
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That net rating is better than the 2015-16 Oklahoma City Thunder (+7.5), who took a 3-1 lead on the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals, the 2015-16 Cleveland Cavaliers (+6.4), who beat Golden State in the NBA Finals, and the 2016-17 Cavs (+3.3), who lost to the Warriors in the Finals last season.
The Rockets also match up fairly well with the Warriors as they’ve acquired a strong crop of wing defenders and one of the best point guard defenders in league history in CP3. Houston also has a talented big man to defend the rim and attack the boards in Clint Capela, and they have an MVP-caliber superstar in James Harden.
However, I think the 2015-16 Cavs are the toughest team Golden State has faced under Steve Kerr.
The Cavs have been known to coast during the regular season, so they’re numbers aren’t quite as impressive as this Rockets team. But they had an incredible amount of talent with one of the greatest players of all-time alongside two other All-Stars, and a center that was playing at a very high level in Tristan Thompson.
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Cleveland was also pretty deep at the guard and forward positions, which is a necessary element in taking on the Warriors.
Playing LeBron James at the peak of his powers and Kyrie Irving on an incredible hot streak will be tougher than what the Warriors will face this postseason. And now Golden State has added another MVP to their roster to make their task ahead much easier.
It’s pretty easy to say that the hardest challenge Golden State has faced during this four year stretch was the one team that has beaten them. But sometimes the easiest answer is the right one.
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Houston will make the Warriors work extremely hard to move on to their fourth straight Finals, but the Rockets aren’t quite on the same level as that 2015-16 Cavaliers team.