For the 4th time in five years, the Golden State Warriors, the league’s back-to-back champs, have clinched the top spot in the Western Conference.
The Golden State Warriors won’t end the season with the league’s best record, but they will sit atop the West. With their 56th win of the season, the Warriors have taken a 2.5 game lead over the Denver Nuggets.
With just two games left for Golden State and three for Denver along with Golden State owning the tiebreaker, the top seed has been clinched. While the Warriors didn’t set any records with their 56, possibly 58 wins, they did do enough to secure the highly-needed first seed.
The first seed wasn’t 100% necessarily for Golden State to three-peat. However, it will make things much easier on the two-time defending champs. As it currently stands, they’ll have San Antonio, Portland or Utah, then most likely either Denver or Houston before the NBA Finals.
That’s a significantly easier route than Denver current outlook. The Nuggets may have down OKC, Houston then Golden State. That stretch of opponents, even for Golden State, would be exhausting, and for the Dubs, exhausting is not ideal.
Over the last four straight years, the Warriors Big 3 have played 98-plus games per season. While some of the stars do take rest games occasionally, that type of extended season in consecutive years is taxing on a player both physically and mentally.
That’s the main reason why the Dubs clinching the one seed and securing the easiest route to the Finals is critical.
Earlier in the season, the Dubs weren’t looking like the top seed in the West. They were in third place after losing five of six games and staring discontent in the face. Since Curry returned to the team and the Dubs have increased their dynamic chemistry, this team has looked unstoppable.
The Dubs are hitting their stride at the perfect time. Winning eight of their last ten, the Warriors haven’t been letting significantly worse teams even close and have been downing even playoff teams in the West.
This team has taken over the West, and they’ll prove to be an incredibly difficult out in the postseason.