Through one-quarter of the 2021/22 NBA season, no teams have been more impressive than the Warriors and Suns.
Golden State, currently riding a seven-game winning streak, has a league-best 18-2 record. Neither of the team’s losses have been by more than four points, and one came in overtime. It’s perhaps no surprise that the Warriors have the NBA’s second-best offense, but their 99.4 defensive rating – which leads the league by more than four points – wasn’t something we saw coming.
Phoenix, meanwhile, got off to a 1-3 start, but hasn’t lost since, reeling off 16 wins in a row to improve to 17-3, just a single game behind Golden State. Like the Warriors, the Suns have been buoyed to the top of the NBA standings by an unexpectedly dominant defense, which currently ranks third in the league. Mikal Bridges is already generating Defensive Player of the Year buzz, though Draymond Green may be the current favorite.
While we didn’t necessarily expect Golden State or Phoenix to look this good entering the season, there’s no compelling reason to expect major regression from either team.
The Warriors aren’t even at full strength yet, and could become even more dangerous when Klay Thompson and James Wiseman return to action. The Suns didn’t lose any key players from the roster that made it to the NBA Finals in the spring, and youngsters like Deandre Ayton and especially Bridges are still improving.
The two Pacific teams are set to face one another twice this week — in Phoenix on Tuesday and in Golden State on Friday. The matchups, featuring the NBA’s two hottest teams, should be great ones, but we’re not focused in today’s poll on the winners of those games. We’re taking a longer-term view and considering how the season’s results have affected our perception of the favorites to come out of the Western Conference in 2021/22.
As John Hollinger of The Athletic writes, the Suns and Warriors are head and shoulders above the rest of the NBA at the moment, but there’s still plenty of time for other teams to fight their way into that top tier. The Jazz are one candidate — their +9.8 net rating actually ranks second in the NBA, behind only Golden State. The Lakers have gotten off to a slow start, but they were considered the preseason favorites to win the West, and any team with LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Russell Westbrook on its roster can’t be written off.
We want to know what you think. Would you take the Warriors or Suns over the field at this point? If so, do you view Golden State or Phoenix as the best bet to come out of the West? If you’re taking the field, which team do you like best from that group?
Vote in our poll, then head to the comment section to share your two cents!
“ any team with LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Russell Westbrook on its roster can’t be written off.”
Any team adding Westbrook while giving away all their depth is only getting worse. He has proven his stats matter more than team success. Good reason why he’s on his 4th team in 4 seasons
Suns have 4 starters playing every game so far this season
Ayton missed 6 games
Suns are favorite to win the regular season
Suns are on pace to play 77 games per starter
Should be a good 2 games. I am thinking it will be a split of the 2 games. The team that loses the first game will try to adjust their defense for the second game.
Suns if Klay’come back is not good on D
You ever watch the Warriors play? Klay made NBA all defensive team the last season he played. Do you think Jordan Poole (who he will replace in the starting and finishing lineup) is the one holding the Warriors top rated defence together? Casual fans think the Warriors are just all offence and no defence, when they have arguably been better defensively during their run at the top
I applaud the starts by GS and PHO but the time to reel off a 16 game win streak is not Oct/Nov but May/June. Too many butterflies flapping their wings before the postseason starts so I am taking the field at this point.
Going to be a tough repeat for the Bucks unless they get another scoring option on the floor. It GA or nothing for them.
Huh? They just got their big 3 playing together and they have been shredding their opponents. Still waiting on Lopez and DDVC as well. Anyways repeating is hard for any team. I like their chances as much as any of the past 3 years.
If Kawhi comes back healthy at some point I think the Clippers are the favourite. Big if though.
Besides Klay and Wiseman the Warriors still have their mid-level exception. Most think they won’t use it due to their salary cap situation with the penalties. However, the $5.4 million exception means they can add a $10.8 million dollar player midway through the season. I think the cap hit is $16.2 million if they use all of it. But, if any of the Warriors are injured late in the year or if they think they need one more player to push them to a championship the management might pull the trigger. Money doesn’t seem to be much of a consideration for Warriors owners. We will see.
RS yes probably GSW or PHO will win the WC, not that anyone cares about it, but come the playoff… LAL & DEN are gonna always be the favorites to reach the finals!
Suns are on a two-year roll, so not a fluke.
WC was specified.