NBA

The Warriors Basically Have the NBA Finals Clinched After Two Games

Brandon Gdula  —  @gdula13 Jun 6th, 2016
Golden State owns a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals, and the Cleveland Cavaliers don't have much of a chance to save face.

In a lot of ways, these NBA Finals were easily predictable.

It's a Golden State/Cleveland rematch, a pairing that shouldn't really shock anyone. And the Warriors are up 2-0 after two games at Oracle Arena, not a surprise after a 73-win season.

While all of that would have made sense back in October, or January, or even March, it was kind of a shock just a few weeks ago.

The Warriors trailed the Oklahoma City Thunder 3-1 in the Western Conference Finals, and -- numbers aside -- the eye test suggested that pressing for the all-time single-season wins record and having a banged up all-world point guard in Stephen Curry was too much to overcome.

They did it, though, as we all know by now.

And they aren't taking it for granted.

Their point differential (plus-48 points) through the first two games of the Finals is the largest gap ever, according to Basketball-Reference.com.

Their 58.9% Effective Field Goal Percentage is third-best all-time through Game 2 of the NBA Finals, too.


By contrast, Cleveland's mark of 40.5% ranks fourth-worst ever through Game 2 of the Finals.

Or algorithm gives the Warriors an 89.79% chance to win it all, most likely closing it out at home in Game 5 (33.67%).