NBA: 6 teams with the best chance to dethrone the Golden State Warriors

5. Oklahoma City Thunder

The Oklahoma City Thunder have emerged this year as the biggest threat to the Warriors in the West. They have two things going for them when the playoffs roll around and if they end up facing Golden State:

• Their stifling defence
• The tandem of Russell Westbrook and Paul George

The Thunder’s defence has been good this year, even without Andre Roberson, who – along with Paul George – should be in the conversation for best perimeter defender in basketball. The team has the most active hands in the league as they force over 17 turnovers per game and average a little over 10 steals a night also! Once Roberson returns (hopefully at some point this season) expect their defence to become that much more suffocating.

And when it comes to facing Golden State, they’ll have Russ to put on Curry; Andre and PG can take Klay and KD and Steven Adams can take DeMarcus Cousins. Of all the teams in the league, the Thunder may match up best with the Dubs and have the best chance of at least slowing down their high-powered offence.

Now we get to their dynamic duo of Paul George and Russell Westbrook. Russ is on pace to average a triple-double for the third season in a row! The man does it all and this year, he is differing to PG a lot more and is playing a much more team-oriented style of basketball.

George, on the other hand, has emerged as a legitimate MVP candidate, putting up 29 points a night. These two have really figured out how to play and thrive together, making them one of the scariest pairings around.

The one question mark when it comes to OKC has to be Westbrook’s jumpshot. If he can start getting his perimeter shots to fall, Golden State may have a little trouble disposing of them in the playoffs.