Ever since all-time-great player Kevin Durant left the Oklahoma City Thunder to join the already all-time-great Golden State Warriors, the NBA championship has felt like a foregone conclusion. During Durant’s first season in the Bay Area, the Warriors lost only one playoff game (and it was not until the Finals) and looked as if they belonged in some sort of higher league. The Warriors have continued to rank among top-tier teams throughout the 2017-18 season, but they have appeared more vulnerable than in past years while their competition appears stronger than ever.
For the first time since the Warriors made the leap to an elite team in the NBA during the 2014-15 season, they will enter the playoffs without their conference’s top seed. While some could attribute this slip to the seemingly disinterested attitude the team has taken towards the regular season this year, that would be slighting the Houston Rockets, who have made a leap to become an elite team themselves.
Acquiring superstar point guard Chris Paul before the season to pair with world-class scorer James Harden, the Rockets have been the NBA’s most dangerous offensive force throughout the entirety of the season. They have won 65 games (with one still to play at the time of writing this), and James Harden has put together one of the most impressive offensive seasons in history, averaging over 30 points and nearly 9 assists per game.
The Rockets have proven to be stronger than the Warriors at their own game, shooting three-pointers at a clip never before seen and hitting over 1,200 of them, nearly 300 more than the Warriors. They own the NBA’s best offensive rating with a rating of 115, a point and a half better than the Warriors, and also have the stronger defense of the two.
While the Rockets are entering the playoffs with a seemingly top-to-bottom healthy roster, the Warriors are limping to the finish. All four of their superstar players have battled some sort of injury throughout the season, but the ankle troubles plaguing Stephen Curry have been by far the most troubling.
Marred by ankle injuries throughout much of his early career, Curry has managed to stay relatively healthy throughout recent seasons, as he ascended to one of the NBA’s all-time most dominant forces and has made the Warriors into who we know them as today. Although his current ankle injury appears relatively minor and he should return during the playoffs, the Warriors’ need for a healthy Curry has become glaring during his absence.
Throughout the final 17 games of the season, during which Curry has only played 25 minutes total, the Warriors have gone a pedestrian 7-10 and have dropped games to teams with quite literally half their talent. While Durant may be the most singularly talented player on their roster, this stretch has proven that Curry is the most valuable. The floor spacing provided by his otherworldly shooting ability makes life easier for every one of his teammates, and his elite passing is impossible to replicate with any player they can take from the bench.
While the nature of the seeding makes it so Curry will almost definitely be back by the time the two teams meet in the Western Conference Finals, if he is not 100 percent healthy, the consequences for the Warriors could be dire.