Maladroid.... Durant played the whole game last time Warriors and Thunder met and the final score was Ws 117 and OKC 91, so obviously you havnt been paying a lot of attention. That game was also warriors without Bogut.
He was just coming back from his ankle. I'd let him off for that.
I'll bold it since you didn't see my qualifier nor the fact I was responding to a poster that said the Thunder would demolish the W's. Even last year, when the Thunder were better put together compared to now, the series was close with two of them decided by buzzer beaters. It wasn't a one sided series last year. This year the Thunder haven't played well period. There's a still a ton of basketball left to be played and it's not a given that the team will suddenly develop cohesion and get hot. So based on what the Thunder are right now + W's with homecourt advantage...dubs have the upper hand. Also since when was 5-6 games not semi close series?
I haven't claimed any championship guarantees other than the team as is right now has the ability to contend for one. I've also said in a previous post that Memphis and SA are unfavorable matchups that I really wouldn't want to see in the 1st round for the dubs (in fact the lack of wins against SA the past two seasons worries me a great deal). I also said that no first round matchup is favorable period. So I dunno where you're getting all this arrogance from. My optimism in the team doesn't automatically mean I'm proclaiming them NBA champs in January. There's still more than half a season to go and our best players have a history of injury. All I can say is that after 23 or so years of being a W's fan, these past few seasons are the first time since Run TMC that I'm super optimistic about our chances [2007 squad was broken up way too soon imo- not that they would've chipped but that's another story].
I didn't fully appreciate the context of that post and mistook the defense of your team for arrogance. I still don't think that win was meaningless to the Thunder, but I get why you said it now.
Forgive the recency and primacy effect, but what stayed with me from that post was your dismissal of an opponent win and your prediction against a Thunder team I don't really think can be fairly judged on their production up to this point in the season. OKC doesn't need to get 'hot', they just need to play together. At this point, Durant's still missed more games than he's played this season.
Last season in the West, every first round match up went to 7 games, except an inept Houston against Portland that only went to 6. So yeah, a 6 game series doesn't seem as close as the 'norm' going by last year. And I don't know how a 4-1 series could be considered semi-close, either.
In the regular season, Houston won the series against Portland, but lost in the playoffs. Memphis lost the regular season series against the Thunder, but still took them to 7. Dallas got swept by the Spurs in the season, but still managed the same. The Clips-Dubs matchup was the only one that seemed to reflect regular season form, and even then, the Warriors weren't meant to get that close without Bogut.
As shaky as the Mavs and Grizz looked last season, and the Spurs (not really) and Thunder look this season, I can't discount their past playoff experience. Come playoff time, I think those teams are hardened in a way that'll make them competitive, regardless of regular season form or home court advantage.