(1) Golden State Warriors (73-9) vs. (8) Houston Rockets (41-41)
En route to their first NBA championship in 40 years, the Golden State Warriors quickly dispatched of the Houston Rockets in five games in the Western Conference Finals last season. While the Stephen Curry vs. James Harden matchup was highly anticipated, the series itself ended up being firmly in favor of Stephen Curry and the Warriors. With the Warriors having the best regular season record in NBA history and the Rockets right at .500, I have no reason to believe that the Rockets will give the Warriors any sort of a fight.
To be clear, this is no indictment on James Harden's play. The bearded assassin has averaged 29.0 points per game and once again proven himself to be one of the most potent and explosive scorers in the game. The issue is that he has no help. Dwight Howard, who was supposed to be his right hand man, is averaging just 13.7 points and 11.2 rebounds per game. Unless Dwight Howard magically morphs into Hakeem Olajuwon, the Rockets have no shot at winning this series.
The Warriors have too many weapons to go along with Stephen Curry, who is averaging 30.1 points per game. Klay Thompson, the other "splash brother", is averaging 22.1 points per game while also shooting north of 40% from 3-point range. In addition to Klay, the Warriors have Draymond Green, Andrew Bogut, Andre Iguodala, Harrison Barnes, Maurice Speights, etc. Those guys are also extremely good at what they do, forming one of the best supporting casts around a superstar in NBA history.
While it would take too long for me to talk about each of those players, what they do as a collective unit is defend at a high level, control the glass, and help Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson get out in transition where they are more comfortable. All of those guys know their job and they do it with pride. As for the Rockets, it really is just James Harden out there chucking up threes in hopes of catching fire.
Unless the Golden State Warriors all get terminally ill or get a very bad case of food poisoning, they will sweep the Houston Rockets. This series will be over in the blink of an eye and the Houston Rockets will go into the off-season with a lot of questions to answer. What other pieces do they need to go around James Harden and Dwight Howard? Is J.B. Bickerstaff the head coach for the future? Will Daryl Morey stay on board as general manager? These questions and more will be on the forefront of their minds in approximately two weeks.
Note: Game 1 of this series is Saturday at 3:30 PM EST on ABC.
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