[Senator Clay Davis]

The Rockets winning percentage might be the best thing to make my point. Despite playing at the highest level they can, the Rockets are a whopping 1.5 games ahead of the Warriors, who are playing 2-3 levels below their highest level and, having learned from 2015, are coasting through the year instead of killing themselves every night. This is where Durant ruined everything, because without him you could make the case the Rockets might be the favorites and that the West is really interesting.

But the two biggest threats to the Warriors haven't changed from the start of the season: Durant's ACL, and Curry's ACL. Unless one of those things gives out, the Warriors can still reach a level (and maybe even two levels) no one else can, and that still makes them the prohibitive favorites.