Unless you're talking offensively, where you have Chris Paul running the floor and Carmelo Anthony pulling out all the stops on offense, then the answer's no. Believe it or not, the Warriors aren't just good offensively. They were first in defensive efficiency (I apologize for knocking their defensive performance throughout the year) last season at 1.009, whereas Houston was 15th with an efficiency of 1.055. Golden State was also one of two teams (Detroit being the other at .998) who had a defensive efficiency of below one (.994). This was with the likes of Lou Williams and Patrick Beverley. Now that they've traded away some of their better defensive stars for a chance at an aging Chris Paul, they won't be able to keep up on the defensive end of the floor. They'll try and outscore Golden State, which is fine. But that strategy won't help them in the long run.
The Rockets have the right idea in trying to build a superteam. After all, Mike D'Antoni is an offensive genius who loves a good up-tempo offense. However, it's still possible that the Rockets won't even make it to the Western Conference Finals with their offense-only team. Teams like San Antonio and Memphis, squads who ranked in the top ten in defensive efficiency in 2016-17 and who've proven to beat Golden State from time to time using gritty defense and terrific coaching, will be the teams that'll give the Warriors the most trouble. In the mean time, teams like the Thunder and Rockets will have to just sit back as the Warriors' current reign continues barring any extreme injuries.
Photo Courtesy of ESPN.com
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