Golden State Warriors: The Boston Celtics are their biggest threat

Heading into the 2018-19 NBA season, it seems as if the Golden State Warriors are locks to win a third straight championship.

The Golden State Warriors might be invincible. They have already won three championships in the previous four seasons. Keeping their core of four all-star players all in their prime, they managed to add yet another star in DeMarcus Cousins.

Beating a team this stacked will be nearly impossible. It would take a huge effort from only the leagues best talents to topple the Warriors. Not many teams are capable of playing at this high of a level.

The Western Conference contains quite a few worthy opponents. The Houston Rockets fell only one game short of beating the Dubs last year. If not for an injury to Chris Paul, the Rockets may have won that series. Houston will be returning in 2018-19 looking for a rematch, but the Warriors have only gotten better.

Then, you have the Los Angeles Lakers and Oklahoma City Thunder. These two teams aren’t nearly as talented as the Rockets. However, Russell Westbrook and LeBron James have the ability to put up superhuman numbers. While they likely stand no chance of winning a seven-game series versus Golden State, expect them to put up a fight.

The real threat to the Warriors isn’t in the Western Conference. No, the biggest obstacle in the way of the Warriors three-peat is the Boston Celtics. The Celtics are fully equipped to not only compete with the Dubs, but actually take them down.

The Celtics are arguably just as loaded as the Warriors. Sure, they don’t have five all-star players on their team. However, Boston does have one of the deepest young teams in the league. Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Terry Rozier and Marcus Smart are all extremely qualified role players.

Throw in the star power of Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward and Al Horford, and you have one hell of a team. Iriving is notorious for elevating his game against the Warriors. He wants to beat them more than anybody in the league and has already been quoted saying he is ready for this challenge.

The main reason Boston has a chance to beat Golden State is the fact that they are built perfectly to defend the Warriors. The Celtics have formed a team that is defensive minded and can switch through everything. This will be huge in a series versus the Warriors and will minimize the Dubs offensive attack.

Furthermore, Boston has enough firepower on offense to battle with Golden State. Irving and Hayward are two of the best scorers in the league. Tatum and Brown have shown flashes of greatness. Meanwhile, Horford is one of the best playmaking bigs in the league.

The Warriors are still favorites to win the entire thing, but they shouldn’t underestimate the Celtics. Boston will be the toughest opponent they could potentially face.