Bold Prediction: The Golden State Warriors Won't Make It To The NBA Finals

   
    Anyone who is a basketball fan, or any sports fan in general, knows that the Golden State Warriors are going to go down as one of the best teams in NBA history.  And as a Warrior advocate myself, this is hard to say, however I have a bold prediction that the Dubs won't be making it out of the West and into the NBA Finals

   Heres the main points of why I believe this is so:

1. They do not rest their star players enough
2. They seem to have lost the fire and passion they contained before
3. Their games seem to be won or lost by the three ball

• Point 1-They do not rest their players enough: As the 82 game season grind continues, NBA players are more often worn out by the end of the year and don't play the same come playoff time. The Warriors have made it clear that they want to chase the record as Draymond Green stated, however in the process of doing so, they have hardly got rest and this may impact their game come playoff time. In comparison, the San Antonio Spurs are less concerned about the records and more about the playoffs. They rest all of their pivotal players constantly through the season, assuring that they are fresh come postseason. This shouldn't be too big of a problem, but this issue may lead to more injuries and a more tired team. 

• Point 2-They seem to have lost the fire and passion they contained before: Now this is a highly debatable issue, however from being an avid NBA fan and watching them now compared to earlier in the season, I think that the Warriors have acted a little bit brash. Let me be clear, they have the right to act that way; they have a historic regular season record, a clear-cut favorite to win the NBA title, and arguably the best shooter in the history of the NBA. Yet they don't play with as much intensity. Everything from the defensive tenacity to the high pace on the offensive end. 

Stephen Curry has changed the game with his shooting

• Point 3-Their games seem to be won or lost by the three ball: Most basketball fans know that the old-school, smash mouth basketball is in the past and a newer play-style of long-range shooting has come. Please note that this is not only what the Warriors do, however it is a huge part of it. Even though they have the best shooters in the league; Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry, the Warriors seem to struggle when the three-ball isn't going down for them. One huge example can be extracted from the March 19th showdown between the Spurs and Warriors. The Spurs seemed to be all over the basketball and pressured them to a whole new level. Curry only got one three to go down and both him and Thompson struggled to get in a rhythm. This could play a factor in the playoffs. 

  

  The Spurs have a great defensive team and shut down the Warriors in their last meeting

    Some teams that likely can defeat the Warriors in the Western Conference Playoffs are; The Clippers, The Spurs, OKC Thunder, and The Rockets. To begin, the Clippers have Blake Griffin back now which will be huge if they play the Warriors because he is a superstar player. The Spurs are the ultimate favorite however to win a seven-game series against the Warriors for obvious reasons I mentioned above. 

   The Thunder and Rockets are dark horses in my mind to give the Warriors a hard time or even knock them out. The Thunder seem to have all the talent in the world, but just cannot gel it all together and have the league worst losses when having the lead in the fourth quarter. However if they can play at their highest potential, then they have showed before that they are more than capable to match up with the Dubs. 

    

The Clippers trio can cause havoc in the West

   

    The Rockets however may not have the same luck. They are still fighting for their playoff lives, but if they do get in I think they can cause a lot of problems. James Harden is one of the league's best offensive talents and Dwight Howard has shown his old self at times. Houston has been one of the disappointing teams this year, following a Western Conference Finals appearance last year.

    With all this said, I don't want to discredit what greatness the Warriors have found. They are a first-class organization and have probably the best regular season team in NBA history. Yet don't all sports fans love upsets and underdogs?