While Warriors Watch

 The first round of the NBA playoffs is over, with some Western Conference surprises, at least in terms of pre-season hopes and expectations.  The biggest surprise (and failure) is the first round exit of the Phoenix Suns, swept by Minneapolis.  The Suns were often pre-season favorites to win the West and possibly the championship.  But the three superstar lineup, even in the few games all were healthy, couldn't compensate for lack of size, and the resources needed to sign them all contributed to a lack of depth.  By the first round they seemed past caring, criticized for a lack of physicality.

The Los Angeles Clippers were also highly touted, but again failed in the playoffs, losing to Dallas in six in the first round.  The Los Angeles Lakers disappointed themselves, and have already sacrificed their coach.  They bowed to Denver in five, which wasn't unexpected.  

So Steph Curry and the Warriors watching all this on TV could take some solace from their own underachieving season, especially since these three teams just mentioned have no clear path to improvement next season, whereas the Warriors may be only a player or two from improving at least enough to get into the playoffs and do damage there.  This makes it less likely that the team will opt for the kind of wholesale change that is predictably speculated in the ongoing blah blah blah.   In fact they could field pretty much the same team, and with a jump in productivity among the younger players, be more competitive.

And for all the talk about the Warriors being too dependent on Steph's scoring, look at New Orleans that couldn't win consistently without Zion, and Memphis which seemingly couldn't put together any kind of competitive team without Ja Morant.  

Much has been made of the fact that three of the biggest stars in the NBA are sitting at home for the second round: Steph, Kevin Durant and LeBron James.  All three are scheduled to play together on the US Olympic team--their conversations might be very interesting.  Nobody knows how upset Durant is with the Suns, or how restless LeBron is, though chances are still very good that all three will stay where they are.  Still...I have to wonder just what they will talk about during the Olympics.

Now the second round has started, with Minneapolis scoring a surprise victory over Denver on the road. It used to be said that it's not a series until the visiting team wins a game.  So look out, it's a series.