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Dream Team 4: Golden State Warriors

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A little food for thought that I found while looking at season stats so far. Here's how the Cavs and Warriors compare in the early season so far.

Off Rtg: Warriors 111.8 (1st) Cavs 107.8 (3rd)
Def Rtg: Warriors 96.8 (5th) Cavs 100.5 (11th)
Net Rtg: Warriors 15.0 (1st) Cavs 7.3 (4th)
Ast%: Warriors 69.7 (1st) Cavs 64.4 (3rd)
DREB%: Warriors 74.8 (21st) 78.6 (4th)
REB%: Warriors 51.5 (8th) Cavs 53.4 (2nd)
eFG%: Warriors 55.9 (1st) Cavs 53.2 (2nd)
TS%: Warriors 59.2 (1st) Cavs 56.2 (2nd)
Pace: Warriors 102.24 (3rd fastest) Cavs 95.56 (3rd slowest)

And keep in mind that this is all being done with the Cavs receiving almost 700 MINUTES LESS from their top 8 rotation players than the Warriors through each team's 1st 14 games. For perspective, the Cavs have lost 36 full games from their top 8. The Warriors have lost 9.

Oh, and I thought this was extremely interesting. Of the 5 man units who have played 30 or more minutes together this season:

#2 Five man lineup in the league: Curry / Barnes / Draymond / Iggy / Klay 70.8 Net Rtg
#1 Five man lineup in the league: Lebron / Delly / Love / Tristan / Mo 71.5 Net Rtg.

That Cavs lineup is also the best defensive unit in the league over that span as well and the 5th best offensive unit.

When you bump it up to 100+ minutes played, the Lebron / Love / Moz / JR / Mo lineup has the 2nd best Off Rtg (113.2) in the league, and the 5th best Net Rtg (11.7). The closest Golden State comes in Net Rtg is their starting lineup which ranks 10th.

When you peek back at last year from Jan 15 onward, the Cavs had 3 Five Man units in the top 20 of Net Rtg (39.6, 32.8, and 24.7) compared to the Warriors who had 1 (29.7). Oh, and the Cavs total Off Rtg over that time was #1 in the league (110.4) and their Net Rtg was #3 (8.3).


So what does this all tell me? That the Warriors are putting up ungodly numbers, but even our current healthy players are pacing or outperforming theirs much of the time. Unfortunately we then have to run units that consist of James Jones / Richard Jefferson / Jared Cunningham / Andy Varejao while they get to trot out their superstar Finals winning lineup.

So yes, the Warriors are incredible. But let's revisit all these numbers in about February when the Cavs actually have their normal team together. I think you're gonna see some pretty significant leveling out.
 
This is impressive and all, but how come no one points out that the Warriors had a pretty easy schedule to start the season. Over 15 games, they have only played two teams whom are above .500. Both those teams are from the East, actually. Let's hope the mighty 2-11 Lakers can stop them...

The West seems like a cake walk this year, only two - max 3 - legit teams.
 
I just looked at their schedule. It's a cakewalk until the Cavaliers game on Christmas. They have one game I think they might lose, and it's the only road back to back - in Milwaukee. There's an almost unprecedented amount of time off between games on their only road trip.
 
This is impressive and all, but how come no one points out that the Warriors had a pretty easy schedule to start the season. Over 15 games, they have only played two teams whom are above .500. Both those teams are from the East, actually. Let's hope the mighty 2-11 Lakers can stop them...

The West seems like a cake walk this year, only two - max 3 - legit teams.

Part of that, though, is that the Warriors can't play themselves. Like Memphis is .500 but they've had two games against Golden State. If instead of playing Golden State twice they were to have played someone else, they are probably above .500. Meanwhile, if you take those two games against Memphis and make them against a team like Charlotte, Charlotte then most likely goes from being an above .500 team to a below .500 team, and we're still saying the exact same things about their schedule.

Point is, when you beat every team on your schedule (and some of them twice) you've made your SOS worse.
 
Look, they are really good. They were a well-assembled team in the Finals just like the Cavaliers were. When they go small, they have five guys who can switch defensively with spacing and play making for others. Iggy, Livingston, Barnes, and Draymond are the kind of supporting cast everyone wants because of size and versatility. Klay and Curry both keep everyone else honest. They have also practiced and played with each other for a whole additional training camp since then. They are the Cavaliers roster with more synergy because of time playing with each other and health during that span.

But the one thing the Bay Area media is thin-skinned about is the constant "if we were healthy" talk from both Kyrie and LeBron. Their media whine about the Cavaliers pointing this out all the time. Mind you, their media is ASKING our players to comment about the Warriors and then whining they mention health... but it's clear they know it's a damn good point. If the Cavaliers get some time together, there is no doubt the Cavaliers can be right there with them.
 
I have Utah ending the streak, but we'll see.
 
In related news... Omg the Lakers are horrendous.
 
These ass clowns could be 28-0 by the time we face them Christmas day.
 
We're looking at a team of the century here

Easily better than any team in the 90s
 
I'm as high as anyone on the warriors but they haven't played anyone.

Problem is there appears to only be three good teams this year, so they won't have much competition here on out either.
 
I actually think they could break the 72 win mark. I don't think the West is that good to be honest. Not as good a last year, and they did win 67 games that year.

Of course health and luck plays into that.

Houston is a mess, the Clippers look like they have regress, and they've already beat them twice.

We don't know if OKC can stay healthy to be a threat. Even with Durant and Westbrook healthy, they still don't correspond as a team to me.

Portland lost Aldridge, so obviously they're not as good, if good at all.

There might actually be more parity between the West and East this year. I think the West is still better, but maybe not as much as we thought.
 
We're looking at a team of the century here

Easily better than any team in the 90s

I hope this is sarcasm.

It's hard to really compare eras. If the Warriors played in this era, yes, they might even be better than those Bulls teams.

But if they played in their era, you are crazy if you think they'd beat the Bulls.

Those Bulls teams, especially the late 90s were devastating defensively. There's no team playing today that even compares to them defensively.

They had the parts to lock them down. Steph Curry would be guarded by Pippen. That's length and strength, and lateral quickness to stay with him.

And no one would stop Jordan. This is the knee-jerk world of sports we live in, where Curry seems unstoppable at the moment, where Jordan has been unstoppable his entire career.

Anything Curry did would be outdone by Michael.
 
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26th out of 30 in strength of schedule, and the best team they have beaten is the Raptors lol. Curry having a scorching, amazing start, and an incredibly lucky schedule to start the season.

It's an accomplishment, but man wish our schedule was as easy as theirs or the Spurs to start the season. Ya either that or have Kyrue back, either of those would be swell.
 

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