As the NBA's regular season draws to a close, plenty of teams are being touted as having a chance to lift the Larry O'Brien Trophy in June.
The defending champion Spurs, for instance, have taken off in recent weeks. The Rockets have been led by an MVP-caliber season from James Harden to sit second in the West, and the Grizzlies are as deep as they've ever been and sit just a half-game back in third.
Out of the disparaged Eastern Conference, the Hawks and Cavaliers are worthy challengers to the throne, Atlanta for its magnificent team play and Cleveland for the individual dominance of LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, along with a deepened roster.
But all of the hype surrounding these contenders fails to accept something obvious, just about any way you look at it: The overwhelming favorites to claim the NBA title should be the Golden State Warriors.
Sure, the Warriors are being discussed as a title contender. They have the best record in the NBA at 62-13 – including their current 11-game winning streak after Harrison Barnes hit a buzzer beater Thursday night to beat the Suns.
But it is almost impossible to find a coherent argument why the Warriors won't finish as champions. They are outscoring opponents by an absurd 10.7 points per game, have the second-best offensive rating and best defensive rating in the league, and their net rating – the difference between the two – is 12.0 points per 100 possessions, which would be the best regular-season mark of any team this century.
Not a stats guy? The Warriors have the favorite for league MVP in Stephen Curry, the favorite for Defensive Player of the Year in Draymond Green and the favorite for Coach of the Year in Steve Kerr – no team has ever swept the three major awards.
And the Warriors have the league's best home-court advantage. You could struggle to hear yourself think inside Oracle Arena in Oakland during the many years the Warriors were terrible – just imagine how it is this year as the Warriors have piled up a 35-2 at home.
So why aren't the Warriors getting their due heading into the playoffs as the only team that truly should be expected to win it all? Well, because they haven't done it before.
Stephen Curry shoots a 3-pointer in Thursday night's win over the Suns.Photo: Getty Images
In the NBA, contenders usually have to go through a growth phase on their path to winning a championship: you make the playoffs, then win a round, then win a couple rounds, eventually get to the Finals and win the title. It's something virtually every contending team has gone through over the years.
But there is nothing normal about these Warriors. Try to find something that doesn't scream championship favorite. The Warriors have Curry, a true superstar, and Klay Thompson has blossomed into a legitimate star guard alongside him. Green is a Swiss Army knife of a defender, capable of guarding every position on the court, and is capable of knocking down 3-point shots.
Steve KerrPhoto: Getty Images
Add in Andrew Bogut, one of the league's top defensive centers, a rejuvenated Barnes and a deep and versatile bench including David Lee, Shaun Livingston, Andre Iguodala and Marreese Speights, and the Warriors have amassed a collection of talent that should be the envy of any team.
And this Warriors team has been in the playoffs the past two seasons, losing in the second round to the Spurs in 2013 and losing to the Clippers in round one in 2014. Kerr, who has done a masterful job of pulling the strings in his first year on the sidelines, has the least postseason experience in his role. But Kerr has five championship rings from his playing days, and spent years learning from Hall of Fame coaches such as Phil Jackson and Gregg Popovich. Given how he has done in the regular season as a rookie coach, who is to say the playoffs will go any differently?
The one place you could say the Warriors are vulnerable is if they lose the injury-prone Bogut, a terrific defender and sensational screener. But every contending team would see its title chances take a serious blow if it lost a key player to injury, so that shouldn't lessen Golden State's odds of winning the tournament.
If the Spurs, with their wealth of championship experience, were having the kind of season this Warriors team is having, people would be falling over themselves to name them the prohibitive favorites to win the title. After five months of absolutely sensational play, the Warriors deserve that same kind of respect.
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