Golden State Warriors have the strongest attack in NBA history?
Let’s take a look at the stars who were members of or faced off against the teams that scored the most points in history to evaluate the offensive power of the Warriors today.
That’s Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal or Kobe Bryant during the golden time of the Los Angeles Lakers. It’s Miachel Jordan, Scottie Pippen and the nearly unstoppable triangle formation of the Chicago Bulls. Or Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler and the famous 3-point shooters at the Houston Rockets.
The above legends all have their names attached to teams that are considered to have the best offensive line in NBA history. So are the Golden State Warriors, currently with Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, the best team?
Magic Johnson’s teammate at the Lakers, Byron Scott affirmed: “I have never seen such an excellent offensive line before. They have too many superior weapons and throwers. They can beat you in throwing ability and also in organizing and dribbling ability.”
Indeed, the Warriors are showing almost absolute dominance. After a 132-113 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 2 of the NBA finals, the “Warriors” increased their unbeaten streak since the regular season to 14.
“They are truly a different team. We made them lose the ball 20 times, but in the end they still won convincingly,” LeBron James shared after Durant, Curry and Thompson scored a total of 87 points, including 18 3-pointers in Game 2 (record). NBA continent).
The Warriors currently possess 3 All-Stars capable of scoring at least 30 points in any given match. That’s not to mention the offensive support players who are also very good like Green, Andre Iguodala, Shaun Livingston or alley-oop specialist JaVale McGee.
Since the current Play-off format was introduced in 1984, the team with the highest offensive efficiency (points scored per 100 possessions) has been the Warriors this season, with 113.4 points/game. . Golden State is also the team with the best shooting percentage in the regular season and postseason in the NBA since the 1983-84 season with an average of 56.4% per game.
Warriors own an even squad
Kobe Bryant highly appreciated the Warriors’ ability to circulate the ball, which makes very few teams able to defend in 3-on-3 situations: “They have excellent individuals, but that doesn’t slow down the overall team play. They observe each other, cover their bodies and pass the ball to each other, taking advantage of every small loophole of the opponent.”
Bryant added that the Warriors’ way of playing forces the opposing defense to interact well with each other based on physical strength and must be well prepared if they don’t want to be out of breath.
Isaiah Thomas – who led the Detroit Pistons to two championships and faced great attackers like Magic Johnson of the Lakers, Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics or Michael Jordan of Chicago – believes that the current Warriors squad is completely comparable. with legends of the past.
“The times may be different, but I think when it comes to Magic, Byron Scott, Michael Cooper and many others, you can compare Durant, Thompson, Curry or Green,” Thomas said. Because I get to see these players play.
Curry is showing very high performance at the NBA Finals
Jamaal Wilkes – who won the 1975 NBA championship with the Warriors and won 3 other rings in the Lakers shirt with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – commented: “First of all, they are very united. No one is actually allowed to play individually. They can throw long, shoot medium, and play close to the basket. They may not have a dominant player on the inside like Kareem, but they do everything else so well. Perhaps no team can do better than that.”
Meanwhile, Kenny Smith – NBA champion for two consecutive years (1994-95) with the Houston Rockets – only ranked the Warriors in the Top 5, because they do not have a post-up player like Clyde Drexler, one of Best shooting guard in the NBA and already in the Hall of Fame.
What impresses Smith most about the Warriors is that they possess many excellent 3-point shooters: “Durant and Curry are the best one-on-one players in the world. Add in Thompson’s throwing ability and you’re very difficult to defend. Cannot use 2 players to mark. They remind me of the Kobe-Shaq pair on the Lakers. You can’t send two people to follow Kobe because there’s still Shaq.”
Steve Kerr is the architect of the Warriors’ success
And finally, there is the explanation of coach Steve Kerr, who won 3 rings with Jordan, Pippen and 2 others with Tim Duncan, about the difference of the Warriors: “It is a mixture of many special factors. , in which playmakers and playmakers play an extremely important role. We have many players like that alongside the superstars.”
“Everyone knows ‘The Splash Brothers’ and Kevin Durant. In the past few years, we’ve also had Shaun Livingston, Andre Iguodala and this season David West and Zaza Pachulia,” Mr. Kerr shared: “The team has great passers and they are extremely good teammates.”
So is the Warriors’ offense the best in history?
“I don’t know and I don’t care,” said the coach who just returned to work after an illness: “I just know if I had to face the Warriors now, I probably wouldn’t have a chance.“.