NBA: 6 biggest storylines heading into the Conference Finals

Western Conference: Can the Warriors compete without Durant?

While the level of concern over Durant’s injury does vary, there’s no question that the Warriors offensive system took a big hit with both his exit, as well as DeMarcus Cousins‘. While concerns over Warriors player’s health has come up before (and were quite easily handled), this is different. Durant has been the centerpiece for the Warriors ever since he joined in 2016, and in that time he’s looking like his former MVP level self.

Still, the Warriors have a lot of reasons to remain confident. For one, they did win one title without Durant, and for another, they were able to overcome the Rockets, who will most likely end up being their toughest opponent, two times without him.

And if we are going to be looking at that second-round matchup, there’s a lot to pull away from that too. For starters, the Warriors dug deep into their bench and were able to put up a lot of production with them, scoring 35 bench points, including 14 from Looney and 11 from Livingston.

In fact, the Warriors bench is probably what kept them in that Game 6, as Curry found himself in early foul trouble, and both of the Splash Brothers had off nights, shooting at around 50 percent from the field. If their bench can perform like that throughout Durant absence, the Warriors should have nothing to worry about.