In our ongoing series, CBSSports.com's Eye On Basketball will take a look at contending teams as they head into the NBA playoffs. Today we look at the Golden State Warriors.
In the 2006-07 season, the Golden State Warriors were famous for a fun brand of unconventional basketball under Don Nelson and having a home arena that seemed impossible to rattle.
Whether the Warriors were down by 15 or up 20, Oracle Arena was vibrating from the fans stomping, yelling, clapping, and cheering their beloved "We Believe" Warriors to victories. That Warriors team was 30-11 at home and they used their versatility, moxie, and skill behind Baron Davis, Stephen Jackson, Monta Ellis, and company to shock the world with their first round upset over the 67-win Dallas Mavericks.
Since that captivating run into the second round by the Warriors in 2007, the Oracle Arena hasn't been the home-court advantage we imagine it to be. Many first impressions of that building to the national, casual audience have stuck with us and we like to think the Warriors have some magical home crowd presence pushing them whether the team is contending for a title or counting ping pong balls in the lottery. The truth of the matter is that hasn't really been the case.
After the 2007 playoff run, the Warriors have been good at home but haven't been anything special. The Warriors were tied for the 12th best home record in 2008 when they missed the playoffs with 48 total victories. Over the next four seasons, the Warriors missed the playoffs in each year and finished with the 21st, 23rd, 13th, and 25th best home records in the NBA. They'd return to the playoffs in 2013 and again in 2014, but posted just the 12th and 10th best home records in the NBA, respectively.
The Warriors have been solid at home when they're good, but Oracle Arena's home-court advantage was much more folklore than reality compared to the other true home-court advantages in the NBA. It wasn't even close to being tied for the sixth best home record in the 2006-07 season. Oracle Arena was never a detriment to the Warriors and it certainly made the players feel at home, but in no way did it give them the extra edge we assumed.
The 2014-15 Warriors have changed that.
Under coach Steve Kerr, MVP candidate (and likely winner) Stephen Curry, Most Improved candidate Klay Thompson, Most Improved and Defensive Player of the Year candidate Draymond Green, and the best defense in the NBA, the Warriors have turned Oracle Arena into the biggest advantage of any domicile in the NBA today. They've won 35 of their 37 home games heading into Thursday night's game against the Portland Trail Blazers and their final four games are at home.
The Warriors have blown teams out of the Oracle this season, posting a ridiculous net rating at home of plus-16.9 points per 100 possessions, according to NBA.com/stats. This is the best net rating for a home team in the last 15 years, besting the plus-15.8 points per 100 the 2008-09 Cleveland Cavaliers. That Cavs team went 39-2 at home, tying the second best home record in NBA history behind the 1986 Boston Celtics (40-1).
It seems like the Warriors are more likely to choose resting their players over the course of the final four games of the season than face the threat of losing a third game at home. Their only two losses at Oracle Arena this year have been to the San Antonio Spurs and the Chicago Bulls. The Spurs beat them on November 11 and the Bulls won in Oakland on January 27. There hasn't been a loss by the home team in that building since.
This is so significant because the road to the NBA Finals goes through Oracle Arena. The Warriors have locked up home-court advantage throughout the playoffs, so if you want to win a series against them then you have to upset them in Oakland. You have to cut through the noise, the energy, and the confidence this building brings the Warriors every single night. The clichés and platitudes athletes consistently give out about the home crowd giving them a boost are actually true when it comes to this Warriors team.
Curry, Thompson, Green, Andrew Bogut, Harrison Barnes, Andre Iguodala, Marreese Speights and others actually feed off this energy. One possession tries to one-up the previous possession and building the white noise to a deafening level that will be measured with gimmicky decibel meters on broadcasts is something these guys seek out.
Oracle Arena is a quicksand trap, waiting to feel you struggle to break free as it takes you down. That's what the other teams have to deal with as they traverse through the Western Conference playoffs. Teams like the Memphis Grizzlies, Los Angeles Clippers, Houston Rockets, and Portland Trail Blazers will all be looking to find their way into a situation that has them taking on the San Antonio Spurs or the Warriors. Those are the two teams that will be the maker the other hopeful contenders meet.
But even for the Spurs and all of their playoff history and glory, they have to figure out how to get through Golden State. It's not so much that the Warriors are a lock to represent the West in the NBA Finals; they're far from it. They're not far from being expected to play for an NBA championship because of anything against them or a lack of playoff history/experience that champions seem to possess.
The West is simply loaded with challengers and the majority of those challengers have real identities and strengths they've drawn on throughout their successful seasons. They'll use those identities and challenge the Warriors' identity at Oracle Arena in the playoffs. That's as daunting a task as trying to keep the Warriors from burning down your own home arena, which is likely considering they're the best road team in the NBA this season as well.
Majority of fans and pundits are expecting the Spurs and Warriors to tango at some point during the playoffs. Whether that ends up being in the second round or the Western Conference finals, that could end up being the title-deciding series in 2015. The Atlanta Hawks and the Cleveland Cavaliers will have their shot against each other and the winner will go on to represent the East. Maybe even the Chicago Bulls can find their health at the right time and become a proper challenger as well.
But eventually, all roads to the championship go through Oracle Arena if the Spurs can't slay the best team in the NBA this season. That's what this Warriors team has brought back to Oracle Arena -- something that was sorely missing over the past eight years and something that hasn't truly been there all that often in the last four decades.
It's appropriate that the Warriors' star is sponsored by a company whose tagline for years was "We must protect this house!" That house is trap and that house is a place you have to conquer in order to get a shot at the title this year. Good luck staying out of the quicksand.
