Championship or Bust

The Golden State Warriors are 68-7, and are aiming for 73 wins, which would beat the record set by the 1996 Bulls for most regular season wins. It is a very lofty achievement, not many teams have even been close, so it is understandable that they really want to break the record. But at this point in the season, the Warriors really should be resting their star players to make sure they are ready for the playoffs. Because as impressive the Warriors have been throughout the regular season, it would mean nothing if they didn't win the championship.

In their last seven games they have to play six teams that will be in the playoffs, including two games against the San Antonio Spurs. However I still think it is almost guaranteed that the Warriors will make it to 73 wins, in fact I wouldn't be surprised at all if they finished 75-7. Throughout the season the Warriors have never lost consecutive games, usually they follow a loss with several consecutive wins. So I find it very unlikely that they will somehow loose three games in a seven game stretch. 

Many other teams, especially contenders have started resting their players, the Cavs sat LeBron for a night, the Thunder rested Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka, and the Spurs are notorious for resting their players throughout the season. And these are the teams that are trying to dethrone the Warriors, these teams don't care if the Warriors have had one of the most impressive seasons in NBA history. The Playoffs are a different atmosphere, and the Warriors are the team that everyone is aiming for. The Spurs, Thunder, Cavs, and Clippers have been scheming the whole season trying to figure out how to take them down. Realistically I think that the Spurs have the best chance, having been one of the only contending teams to actually beat the Warriors.  Actually the Spurs did a great job and contained the Warriors, limiting them to their lowest scoring total of the entire season, winning 87-79. The Spurs used the strategy of shutting down Stephen Curry, and held him to 14 points on 4-18 shooting, and actually held the duo of Steph and Klay to a combined 2-19 from three. Plus the didn't even use star defender Kawhi Leonard on Curry, they use their other guards and harrassed Curry. This slows down the Warriors attack and forces the other players to make plays. The Warriors did the same thing to the Cavs in the Finals last year, and LeBron just couldn't do enough to pull it off. I believe the Spurs are one of the only teams capable of shutting down Stephen Curry, and if they can do that in the playoffs then they have a good shot of getting to the Finals.