2025 Thunder vs 2015 Warriors

[rand]

Who wins a best of 7?

[PistolPeteJR]

I trust ‘25 Shai on both ends vs the ‘15 Warriors more than I trust ‘15 Curry on both ends vs the ‘25 Thunder.

Thunder in 7.

[ShotCreator]

Warriors would probably win. Stronger core lineups, which leads to better late game execution.

Much better road team in the postseason as well.

OKC 5-5 with a -6.2 net rating on the road. They relied on very intense, focused defense which led to offense in order to dominate on both ends and could not attain that in other arenas.

Looking back, I could see the 2025 Clippers beating them or taking them to 7 because they just would not find winning in the Intuit Dome easy at all.

OKC was not even a title level team when on the road.

I don’t see them winning a single game in the Oracle, and GS can win anywhere, in more ways than OKC showed they’re capable of.

[EmpireFalls]

I think the Thunder win in an average-above average shooting series from their role players like the Minnesota series, and lose in the below average shooting series from their role players they got in the Denver series.

Important to note when the two teams play btw. Assuming WCF?

[Elpolo_14]

OKC in 7

The OKC double Big lineups and SGA as POA would definitely cause damage to the GSW system with Draymond not being his 2016-17 self both offense+defense yet

[Djoker]

I like the comparison. Both teams are a bit green at this point and seemed a lot more vulnerable in the PS compared to the RS.

It's actually a tough call. Gun to my head, I probably say Warriors in 7. Both defenses would completely wreak havoc on the other but I just trust Curry and Klay a little more than I trust Shai and J Dub.

[falcolombardi]

Okc imo, more talent past each team top 4, more defensive depth

[The-Power]

I'd pick OKC. The 2015 Warriors were at the forefront of the modern game but it was still in its infancy. I think the Warriors would struggle to deal with a defense like OKC who are very much attuned to the then-novel approach that propelled the Dubs and set them apart from its peers. I don't doubt that it would be a tough series but OKC has the clear benefit of evolution here (even with it only being ten years – the game has changed significantly over this time period in an effort to optimize what others, including the Warriors, had helped pioneer).

[parsnips33]

I'd pick OKC. The 2015 Warriors were at the forefront of the modern game but it was still in its infancy. I think the Warriors would struggle to deal with a defense like OKC who are very much attuned to the then-novel approach that propelled the Dubs and set them apart from its peers. I don't doubt that it would be a tough series but OKC has the clear benefit of evolution here (even with it only being ten years – the game has changed significantly over this time period in an effort to optimize what others, including the Warriors, had helped pioneer).

OKC presumably has to go 1 big most of the time right? I have a hard time seeing Hartenstein able to hang effectively in the Steph PNR. Chet is more mobile, and I'm guessing they'd try to hide him on Harrison Barnes or something?

Thunder do obviously have a ton of guards who could apply a ton of pressure

[jalengreen]

I'd take them over both the 2015 and 2016 Warriors tbh

[The-Power]

I'd pick OKC. The 2015 Warriors were at the forefront of the modern game but it was still in its infancy. I think the Warriors would struggle to deal with a defense like OKC who are very much attuned to the then-novel approach that propelled the Dubs and set them apart from its peers. I don't doubt that it would be a tough series but OKC has the clear benefit of evolution here (even with it only being ten years – the game has changed significantly over this time period in an effort to optimize what others, including the Warriors, had helped pioneer).

OKC presumably has to go 1 big most of the time right? I have a hard time seeing Hartenstein able to hang effectively in the Steph PNR. Chet is more mobile, and I'm guessing they'd try to hide him on Harrison Barnes or something?

Thunder do obviously have a ton of guards who could apply a ton of pressure

I wouldn't be so sure. I think OKC could be fairly successful having Hartenstein and Curry's main defender pressuring him up on the PnR while Chet is manning the backline. I also think OKC is pretty darn well equipped to switch the Curry-Draymond PnR. I'm sure, though, that when GSW goes small OKC will be happy to match that and have their defenders fly all over the court and switch in whatever ways necessary. I think that would really gum up the 2015 Warriors offense.

For what it's worth, I also think that the Dubs would be quite effective limiting OKC on offense. Their personnel allows them to pose a true challenge to OKC. But ultimately I think OKC is a bit better on defense and could also hold up a bit better on offense. Curry would still pose a great challenge and could certainly turn such a series around, but I think OKC is better equipped to make life tough for Curry than pretty much any team the Warriors have faced over the past ten years; and I'm not sure the Warriors supporting cast in 2015 would be reliable enough at cashing in on the advantages Curry creates.

[One_and_Done]

The 2015 Warriors were so unstoppable because they were ahead of their time. Today they wouldn't be. I'm not saying there's a huge difference between the teams, but I'm taking the Thunder.

[Dr Positivity]

I believe Warriors offense was vulnerable and would get stopped by the Thunder D here more than the other way around, plus it's not really fair to GSW for OKC to have 10 years of learning how to play against that style.