Golden State Warriors: 5 takeaways from 2017-18 NBA season
5. Home-court advantage doesn’t matter for this team
The Warriors are used to winning, having been to the Finals four straight years and winning in three of them. However, this was the first year that they did it without home-court advantage all the way through.
After their memorable 73-9 record in the 2015-16 regular season, a year where they ended up famously blowing a 3-1 lead in the Finals and losing to the Cavs, they noticeably have cared less about the regular season and focused more on conserving their energy for the playoffs.
The Warriors are doing everything short of actually telling Houston, “Enjoy the 1-seed, we know we can win a Game 7 in your house.” https://t.co/gpbD5rpP57
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) March 13, 2018
This year they went into the postseason with the second-best record in the Western Conference. They certainly looked like they could have locked up the No. 1 seed, but they seemed to take some nights off and not really care. They were playing with fire, you might say, but this team is so dominant that it had no problem going on the road to get wins. The Dubs’ most notable road win of the playoffs was of course Game 7 against the Rockets in Houston to advance to the Finals.
Here’s the scary thing: since signing Kevin Durant, the Warriors have gone 18-1 at home in the playoffs. They are so incredibly dominant, and yet they didn’t even need to rely on home-court to win this year.
In all likelihood, the Warriors will have the best record in the league next season, and taking a game off them at home will be a difficult task for any opponent. But even if they don’t finish first in their conference, like this year, they have proven they can win just as easily on the road. It’s just unfair, really.