The Golden State Warriors advanced to the NBA Finals for the third consecutive year in historic fashion, sweeping the shorthanded San Antonio Spurs to move to 12-0 in the playoffs so far.
The Warriors became the first team to start a postseason with 12 wins, and while they couldn’t match their 73-9 record from a season ago, Golden State is playing its best basketball of the year at the perfect time.
On Monday’s episode of Undisputed, Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe debated whether the Warriors could go down as the best team in NBA history by the end of the season.
Draymond Green: You don’t get a trophy for sweeping the first three rounds
“You never come into the playoffs expecting ‘oh man we’re going to sweep every series.’ This is a great thing but at the end of the day, had we went 4-3, 4-3, 4-3, we’d still be in the same position. So, it’s not the end of the world, it doesn’t mean too much. It means we got a little more rest, we played a few less games, but it’s not like you get some trophy for being undefeated throughout the first three rounds of the playoffs.
Like I’ve said before, it’s about winning the championship, and we’re four games away from that. If that’s 4-0, great. If it’s 4-3, great. It doesn’t matter how you get those four wins as long as you get them, and that’s our goal.”
Golden State doesn’t get enough credit
“I’m going to give Golden State this – from what I’ve been seeing, the way they’ve been playing, they have a chance to prove they’re the best team ever.
I did agree with coach Popovich’s assessment. I don’t think this team is getting quite enough credit for just how well it plays on the defensive end, and how unselfishly it plays on the offensive end. It is a pleasure to watch them play, and sometimes it’s awesome watching them play.”
If Golden State sweeps LeBron, they’re in the conversation as the best ever
“When they are clicking on offense as they were last night, when Steph and Kevin Durant are trading shots – your turn, my turn, your turn – it’s an overwhelming display of unselfish, high-level basketball.
So if they go on to sweep LeBron out of the Finals, if they go 4-0, I think we’re going to have a lot of conversation about where they rank all time. And you might want to put them at the top.”
The Warriors have a ruthless killer instinct
“I personally do not think they’ll be able to sweep LeBron and company in the Finals – if, in fact, LeBron and company do get to the Finals.
I’m going to give Golden State this much, no matter how injured or undermanned their opponents have been through these playoffs, they have no cruise control in them. When they have a supreme advantage, they take full advantage. They step on your throat. They have serious killer instinct – and I admire it, because you don’t always see this from a team this talented.”
We still don’t know how Golden State will perform in a tight game
“Last night, obviously my Spurs were very undermanned without two former Finals MVPs, Kawhi, Tony Parker, and then without David Lee who has been a real spark off the bench… but Golden State said ‘no’ right from the start. It was 31-19 at the end of the first quarter, and that was the end of that game.
… My issue remains with Golden State from day one. I said it from the start of the season. How will Steph and Kevin perform under pressure down the stretch of a tight playoff game? Guess what, America? We don’t know because we have not gotten to see that yet, because they have not been tested.
And this is what tears my guts out about this NBA playoff season so far. The injury gods have decided it. Obviously Golden State in round one did not have to play against a Nurkic who had made Portland a real threat, I thought. Round two, not that Utah was any big threat to Golden State, but George Hill got hurt and missed the last couple games. And then we know what happened in the conference finals that we just witnessed.”
The basketball gods decided these Finals with injuries to key players
“I will go to my grave saying the Spurs would have beaten this Golden State team in seven games if they had had a healthy Kawhi Leonard and had obviously won Game 1.
They opened the season by winning by 29 at Golden State, and it brings back that litany of games I’ve told you about all year long. With a healthy Kevin Durant trying to figure it out with Steph, they had nine head-scratching losses through the year. You know what happened when they blew a 24-point lead at home to Memphis and lost by nine in overtime, and then they went to Memphis and lost by 21, and they lost by 32 at Denver.
… They have a chance to prove me wrong, to show me up, to show me they can close games. And if they sweep your Cavaliers, we’re going to have a big conversation about this.”
The Warriors still haven’t accomplished anything
“First of all, Skip, they haven’t won anything yet. Since when do they hand out the Larry O’Brien trophy at the end of the Western Conference or the Eastern Conference Finals?
Were we having this same discussion last year about this time? Team that was 73-9, had a unanimous MVP, back-to-back MVPs. Didn’t we have this very discussion last year?
I heard every analyst say ‘if they win the championship this year with a 73-9 record, they will go down… they’re better than the ’96 Bulls.”