Golden State's 2nd Season Begins: Do These Warriors Have What It Takes?

The rebuild ended a long time ago. Losing is now only a memory, not a distant one, but a memory nonetheless. The gauntlet has finally been set. 

After one of the greatest regular seasons in NBA history, the Warriors are getting ready to actually win something. They've already clinched their division and might win a lot of other cool things like league MVP, Coach of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year.

In other words, they've won nothing. Because there's only one trophy that really matters.

Warriors fans that filled up the Oracle Arena every night during all those 50-loss seasons have waited for this. Now they have a team worthy of their devotion. More exciting than RUN TMC. Superior to We Believe.

None of those squads ever had a shot at winning a championship, but they were fun to watch. Plus there's always something intriguing about being the underdog.  

What a difference a couple of decades can make. This is the best team in the NBA, and in the sport of basketball, the best team wins almost every time.

Notice the key word, almost. Strange things happen, like Derrick Rose tearing up his ACL and teams forgetting to guard Robert Horry. 

Believing that Andrew Bogut will play through four seven-game series without injuring or catching something seems like wishful thinking. It's also worth mentioning that teams which rely heavily on their point guards haven't won a championship in a while. 

World famous basketball analyst Charles Barkley predictably stated that the Warriors wouldn't win because of their lack of size and strength. But just because Charles hates the things that the Warriors do—pass, execute, shoot and exercise—it doesn't mean that it won't be effective.

The Warriors are ranked first in defensive efficiency and second in offense, per Team Rankings. They led the league in field-goal percentage on both ends of the floor and have outscored their opponents by an average of 10 points for the season. There are three world-class defenders in their starting five along with the best backcourt shooting tandem in the NBA. 

They also have the deepest bench in the league, led by one of the best defensive guards and a guy who types funny tweets and loves wearing t-shirts under his jersey.  

So they're doing something right. And you can't tell me they're not going to keep doing it until the the final game of the tournament. 

They'll keep switching defensive assignments and adjusting to screens. They'll keep shooting from deep and exploiting missed assignments under the rim. They'll keep outrunning opponents on the fast break and lighting up the Oracle with ludicrous ally oops.  

Plus their road to the Finals became significantly easier on the final day of the regular season. 

The Pelicans were a tougher draw than the Thunder in the first round, but their win over San Antonio means the Warriors will have to face either the Clippers or the Spurs to win the West, not both. They may even avoid both of them and face the Rockets, who they blew out four times during the regular season.  

While the Spurs present the biggest challenge for the Warriors in the playoffs, their drop from second to sixth seed will be huge if aging veterans like Tony Parker and Tim Duncan are forced to play a couple of seven-game series and endure several more days of travel. 

Against of the rest of the top five Western Conference teams, the Warriors are a combined 12-2.

One major concern for Golden State is their lack of experience playing in big games. But they have guys who aren't afraid to take "the big shot" and a head coach that knows what it takes to win championships. Four of them to be exact. Close games actually favor the Warriors' strategy because of their fluid defense and multiple weapons around the perimeter. It's nice to be able to give Stephen Curry the ball in the final seconds of the fourth quarter, but having having three other assassins on the floor is just unfair. 

The Warriors will run into some rough spots—their fourth quarter defense is something that's been a little shaky this season—and there will be moments fans will have to breathe into a brown paper bag, but that's sports. Hell, even the 1996 Bulls didn't win it all without giving a little scare in the end. 

I don't expect the Dubs to go unchallenged in the playoffs, but I do believe they'll win 16 games. For the first time in this franchise's history, that's the only acceptable ending.