The Golden State Warriors won their second NBA championship in three years after finishing with a historic 16-1 record in the playoffs and online sportsbooks, such as Bookmaker who offers great odds, are well aware of this, as some are favoring them to defend their title next season.
Golden State Warriors 2017 NBA Playoffs Recap
A close look at how the Warriors dominated opponents in the 2017 NBA Playoffs makes it hard not to expect more of the same from them in 2018. Golden State finished with a perfect record against their Western Conference opponents, sweeping the Portland Trail Blazers, Utah Jazz, and powerhouse San Antonio Spurs to become the first team in history to go 12-0 before the NBA Finals. What’s even more impressive is the fact that they won 10 of those games by double digits.
The Spurs were the only team that had a solid chance against them. Don’t forget that San Antonio had a 23-point second half lead in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals against Golden State before Kawhi Leonard sprained his ankle. Not to say that the Spurs were going to win the series with a healthy Leonard, but they definitely would have won Game 1 and made things way more interesting, forcing the Warriors to go all out in a six or seven-game series.
In the NBA Finals, the Warriors made it seem that the Cavaliers never had much of a chance. Golden State beat Cleveland by a combined 50 points in the three games at Oracle Arena and they were incredibly dominant despite the outstanding individual performances of LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, which will be remembered as among the best in NBA playoffs history. James was the first player to average a triple-double in the Finals and it wasn’t nearly enough to beat the Warriors, all it did was prevent them from having a perfect record in the playoffs, which evidences how special this Golden State team is.
Warriors Latest News & 2018 Preview
Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Andre Iguodala, and Shaun Livingston will become free agents and all of them were vital for the Warriors last season, but after their success it’s difficult to see them leaving this team.
Kevin Durant’s reported plan to turn down his player option with the Warriors for the 2017-2018 season and become an unrestricted free agent on July 1 will help them, as he will still sign and stay with the Warriors for less money, delaying a long-term deal to give them enough flexibility to keep the core of the team intact in search of more championships.
Durant will be a little less rich, but all he wants is to keep winning and this way the Warriors will have the capacity to re-sign Andre Iguodala, who will be an unrestricted free agent and is reportedly garnering interest from the Jazz, Clippers, Bulls, Timberwolves, and Hawks.
Along with the efforts to keep Iguodala, the Warriors also have to negotiate a new contract for Stephen Curry, who is expected to make more than $200 million over five years. Curry has been making way less than what his performances deserve for four years but he’s expected to sign one of the league’s new Designated Player Veteran Contracts.
As for Shaun Livingston, the backup point guard has averaged 5.8 points and 2.7 assists in three seasons with the team and the Warriors are already working to retain him.
The Golden State core was supposed to start to break up this summer but with Durant’s sacrifice, most of the team can stay together at least one more year, until the issue of Klay Thompson‘s contract extension surfaces next summer.
Durant, Curry, Thompson, and Draymond Green are all expected to return for at least one more season, so expect the Warriors to be in the mix for a third championship in four years.
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