Why The 2023 Warriors Would DESTROY The Clippers AND Bucks If They Met In the Playoffs

Some people feel that in 2023, the Clippers with the return of Kawhi Leonard would overtake the Warriors in the West. Some other people feel that, should the Warriors meet the Milwaukee Bucks in the finals, that Giannis would get his second championship and second finals MVP. Well, I'm here to tell y'all that while it's great to think positive, the two previous takes are just no, no, and no. The Warriors should be the dominant favorites in both of these series and, with that being said, let's get right into it. Let's first start off with the Clippers. Steve Ballmer may be the richest NBA owner ever in the history of the league, and while he's broken the Clippers' second-round curse, here's why they'll ultimately fall to Golden State in a seven-game series. I'm going to start this with Kawhi Leonard. He may have won the Defensive Player of the Year award twice, but those were in 2015 and 2016, which was like seven years ago. He's now 31 years old, which isn't that old, but the thing is, he's coming off a torn ACL. He's not going to be the same defensive stopper he once used to be, and that's that. Now, let's talk about his offense. If you just look at his statistics and what he produces on the box score, the man is a beast. I mean, in the last regular season he played in, the man averaged about 25 points on nearly 50, 40, and 90 shooting splits. Then in the playoffs, he brought that to 30 points a game, and again on very efficient shooting numbers. He's a cyborg with no emotions, and a weird laugh, but he's a great player. I ain't taking anything away from him, but the thing is, the Warriors have Andrew Wiggins. We all just saw him shut down Jason Tatum in the finals, and you can bet he'll do the same with Kawhi. If you don't believe me, then just look at the historical facts. When Wiggins defended against Kawhi in 2021, Air Canada forced the Claw into 38% shooting from the floor, and 7 turnovers in the 3 games they matched up together. Furthermore, since that time, Wiggins has improved tremendously on defense, and his actual goal this upcoming season is to be selected into the all-defensive team. So, although Kawhi is a two-time finals MVP, Wiggins might literally be his kryptonite, and one of the few players in the league that can shut him down. After the Claw, Paul George aka Playoff P is next. PG-13 just came off a season where he only played 31 games due to an elbow injury. When he's healthy, he's an all-NBA talent, but how often is a 32-year-old healthy? Like I said, last season, he only played 31 games, which funny enough, is only 2 games more than Kyrie Irving for Pete's The year before that was 54 games, and the year before that was 48 games. Can a player who, for the past 3 seasons, consistently missed a large sum of games, really be counted on against the defending champions who have one of the all-time greats? Anyways, while he's an all-NBA talent in the regular season, I can't say the same about the postseason. I mean, in 2019, he shot 32% from 3-point range and was eliminated by Damian Lillard, and from there, came his famous meme. Then the following year, in 2020, he shot below 40% from the field as the Clippers were humiliated by the 3-1 comeback of the Denver Nuggets. Then in 2021, while he did shoot a bit better than his previous playoff seasons, 44.1% from the field and 33.6% from 3-point range just isn't going to cut it, especially against a team like the Warriors. Anyways, after PG-13, we can get into the whole John Wall addition, or we can talk about Reggie Jackson, but the truth is, just look at the shooting efficiencies of both players in their last season played. 40% from the floor and about 32% from 3-point range? The Warriors don't even have to game plan for those types of numbers. Meanwhile, the Warriors have Steph Curry, an ultimate weapon that can't be stopped. I mean, the Celtics had the number 2 rated defense last year in the regular season, and they had Marcus Smart, the reigning defensive player of the year. And yet, Steph Curry tore them apart in the finals as he averaged 31 points on 48% shooting from the field and about 44% from 3-point range. I could get into the lack of leadership as well of Kawhi and George, or I can get into the rest of the Warriors like Jordan Poole, Clay Thompson, but I think we get the picture now. The Warriors have an answer for what the Clippers can throw at them, but the vice versa of that can't be said. I predict the Warriors would win this series in 5 games. Next off, we have the Bucks. Giannis Antetokounmpo is thought of by many as the best player currently in the league, but I'm not quite convinced. I mean, his 2021 championship has a slight asterisk to it. Here's what I mean. In the first round, they went against a Miami Heat team that was just completely battered up. What I mean by that is in 2020, the Heat went to the finals and played their last game, which was game 6 on October 11th, then training camp for the following season started on December 1st. In other words, they were completely battered and barely had any time to rest, and then were thrown into the regular season. When the playoffs came around, Bam Edobayo had even said that the Heat were quote unquote, broken. Anyways, in the second round of the Bucks championship run, they barely escaped a Nets team that had a hobbled James Harden, and that was without Kyrie. In the Eastern Conference finals, they were taken to 6 games by Trey Young, who was also injured in that series. Then finally, in the finals, they won against a healthy Suns team. That Suns team was the same team that eventually got humiliated by Luka Doncic, who eventually got gentleman swept by the Warriors. So all in all, although Giannis is a beast, I'm not too sure if he's truly proven himself in the postseason yet to be able to beat an elite team like the Warriors. Some of y'all might be saying, but he almost beat the Celtics single handedly. While that is true, I have two things to say about that. First off, almost doesn't cut it. And second off, Boston's defense was able to make him a really inefficient player. I mean, sure, look, the man averaged nearly 34 points and 15 rebounds a game, but look at his shooting efficiency numbers. About 46 from the field, 25% from three point range, and 67% of the charity strike. Against the Warriors, he might even put up some worse shooting percentages as both Wiggins and Draymond will take turns guarding him. And uh, if the Warriors could turn Giannis into a player who puts up big numbers on inefficient numbers, then yeah, it's going to be back to back championships for the Warriors. Next off, I want to talk about the defensive strategy of the Bucs. The Milwaukee Bucs are notoriously known to play a ton of drop coverage on defense. I mean, from what we've seen, they pretty much dare teams to beat them from the outside. And against the Warriors, I don't think that'll go too well. And here's what I mean. This is from Here's Jason Tatum. Look how open he is after Horford sets the screen. The same thing happened here. Here's Tatum. Again, Horford is going to set the screen, and just look how open he is. This is literally how the Celtics beat them. I mean, literally half of Boston's shot attempts came from beyond the arc. Sheesh, guys. Steph Curry, Jordan Poole, and Klay Thompson are going to have an all-you-can-eat fest against the Bucs with the type of defensive drop coverage that they employ. And on top of that, their head coach, Mike Budenholzer, is notoriously known to not make much adjustments, especially in the postseason. Anyways, I want to pivot here a bit. So far, against both the Clippers and the Bucs, the Warriors have an answer, it seems, for their best weapons. Then, on the other end of the spectrum, they don't have any answers for Steph Curry and, quite possibly, Klay Thompson and Jordan Poole as well. Then, to further add to this, the Warriors have three secret weapons that may prove to be a huge problem to both teams. James Wiseman, Jonathan Kuminga, and Moses Moody. If Wiseman could just play like Evan Mobley did in his rookie season, then that's going to open up another offensive element for the Clippers and the Bucs to have to defend against. And if Jonathan Kuminga could just hit his open threes and free throws at an efficient clip, then he'll be the ultimate weapon coming off the bench for the Warriors. I mean, he's basically like a mini Giannis. Then, if Moses Moody could play like how Desmond Bain played in his second season, then I'm sorry. There's no way either of these teams are going to be able to match up against the Warriors.