The Golden State Warriors remain prohibitive favourites to claim their third straight NBA Championship, their fourth title in five years.

The bookmakers haven’t blinked at the idea of the Warriors going home empty-handed, while our esteemed modellers at Stats Insider are nodding in agreement with their Championship projection currently pegged at 45%.

The Warriors hold a 2-1 Western Conference Semi-Final series lead against the Houston Rockets in a series where Kevin Durant has averaged an eye popping 35.6 points per game.  

For those not enthralled with the prospect of yet another title heading to Oakland, KD's insane run of scoring isn't the kind of evidence you'd be pointing to as evidence of any kind of Warrior's swoon.

Yet is Golden State’s road to glory as simple as the bookies, modellers and overarching narrative would have you believe?

Should we be treating this season as a fait accompli, run of the mill coronation of one of the most dominant sporting organisations on the planet?

Not necessarily.

There are enough statistical indicators to suggest that perhaps this Warriors team isn’t as dominant as previous incantations. That, this edition is packing a lot more potential for a playoff stumble, and that their reign of post-season dominance may well come to an end.

For starters, this Warriors team didn’t bulldoze their way through the regular season with anywhere near the kind of ferocity the NBA world has come to expect. Their 57-win regular season was the franchise’s lowest win total in five years, while their defensive efficiency dropped to a nine-year regular-season low.

The Warriors team which had routinely set the league alight with both its lights out offensive efficiency and pace of play, has levelled off, and while their shooting remains elite, there’s now nine other teams across the league that employ a faster pace of play.

More than anything however is the fact that there’s perhaps never been as much league-wide competition for the Warrior’s crown.

All seven remaining playoff teams can claim to have defeated the Warriors at least once during this year’s regular season, while all seven would feel they are playing their best basketball - or very close to it - at the most important time of the season.

This Golden State team is obviously loaded with phenomenal, transcendental talent. They’ve made the last four NBA Finals for a very good reason, while they’ll be forever remembered as among the league’s greatest - regardless of whether they claim another Championship in June.

Yet the idea that they’ll simply strong-arm their way through these playoffs in what’s a genuinely packed, even field, while so many historically integral Warrior metrics are down is a flawed one.

There’s still a lot of basketball to be played at this truly wonderful time of the NBA calendar. 

Watching whether the Warriors can add to their trophy cabinet will be one mighty compelling story.

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