The Rest Of The Western Conference May Come To Regret Not Burying The Warriors And Lakers While They Had The Chance

Ezra Shaw. Getty Images.

Through the first few weeks of the NBA season, the Lakers and Warriors got off to disastrous starts. Perhaps it should have been expected given the Lakers roster construction and the fact that Draymond Green punched his teammate in the face during practice, but the early results were pretty gross.

For LA, it was a 2-10 start (5 straight losses)

For GS, it was a 3-7 start (5 straight losses)

As the year went on, both teams dealt with injuries to key guys, neither team could win on the road, and as a result they floated around the Play In/6 seed range for the past 6 months. 

You could make the case that the rest of the conference had more than their fair share of opportunities to bury both of these teams and completely remove them from the playoff conversation.

That did not happen.

As time went on, the Warriors started getting healthier. Given their history, they are one of the few teams in the league where as long as they make it to the dance, their regular season doesn't matter too much. That's still a dangerous team in a playoff series. Add in the fact that they just got Wiggins back, and this is a much different Warriors team than what we saw in those first 10 games.

For the Lakers, you have to remember this is a completely new roster. Since the trade deadline, they have the 2nd best record in the NBA (16-7) and best overall record in the West. Their offense has been about league average (14th), but defensively they've been elite (4th), and their +4.9 net rating is good for 6th. That's actually better than PHX/MIL/MEM/SAC/LAC/DEN since the deadline. That seems important!

Now that we have the playoff matchups set for both, you can kind of see why maybe it was a mistake that the rest of the conference let these teams have life.

The Warriors were maybe the biggest winner of the final day of the season, avoiding both the Play In and the Suns in the first round. While the Kings are certainly not a cakewalk opponent, there's something to be said about their inexperience. We're going from maybe one of the biggest unknown teams in the playoffs to one of the most proven. Add in the travel aspect, and while these are technically "road" games, the travel isn't all that crazy. I don't think it's a stretch to suggest that the Warriors got their most preferred matchup. They have no problem getting into an offensive track meet, and we've seen what their playoff defense can do.

The Lakers also find themselves in an interesting spot. They now welcome a Grizzlies team who does have talent, but is also not quite the same Grizzlies team we saw all season. Steven Adams is done for the year, Brandon Clarke is done for the year. JJJ can't stop fouling. For a team with legit size and who gets the best whistle in the NBA, that's great news for the Lakers. We just saw what they were able to do against a team missing their size/rim protection. Not only do the Lakers now get to deal with an injured team, they also get to unleash their top 5 defense against a team that struggles with halfcourt offense. 

It is important to mention that the Lakers and Warriors are not teams without flaws. It's not like the Lakers thrive in halfcourt offense either, they rank 20th in the league. But they also have LeBron James, so I'm not sure how much that matters this time of year. They still need to rely heavily on guys like Dennis Schroder, and I can tell you from experience that is a dicey game to play.

The Warriors season showed us that what they lost in terms of their depth is a big issue. They don't have the same caliber of wing shooters/defenders as they had during their title run, and that matters. Their starting 5 is great and proven, that's true, but we all saw how important their role guys were last season. 

The point is, given the high end talent and experience both of these teams have combined with their current playoff paths, it's not shocking that many out there think both can go on a run. If I know one thing when it comes to playoff basketball, it's that until Steph Curry and LeBron James have lost 4 games in a series and are truly dead and buried, they deserve the benefit of the doubt. 

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The West had their chance to kill both of these guys/teams, and they failed to do so. We're about to find out just how much the rest of the conference regrets not making the most of that opportunity.