What Happened to the Warriors?

The actual question that we should be asking is what happened to the Thunder? The Thunder were a good team throughout this past season, but KD wasn't playing at his MVP caliber level. If it wasn't KD who spurred the change, what or who was the catalyst for this team to wake up out of its season-long ailment of not finishing games very well. I will be listing the 2 main reasons why the Thunder currently lead the series 3-1 against the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals.

1. Westbrook: He has stepped up continually throughout the past season, and has played better than any other PG besides Curry. Actually, in my opinion, Westbrook has been outperforming Curry in this series. Westbrook is the #1 guard at driving to the basket and attacking the rim. He is also a shutdown defender who has completely locked down Curry this series. Throughout the regular season, Curry shot 50.40% from the floor and scored 30.1 PPG. This series, Curry only shot 43.025% from the floor and only scored 24.25 PPG. Those numbers are not bad at all, for almost any other player those stats would be phenomenal, but for Curry this season, it is a disappointment. My gut wants me to think that he has not had the same mojo ever since his injury during the first round of the playoffs, but that's not it. Curry had a 40 point outing, and almost a triple double, in game 3 against the Rockets, and he had a double-double in assists and points during the game after that. Curry just has not been himself during the series and it's taking a huge toll on his team. Curry is a leader on the Warriors and without him performing well, the attitude and ability of the rest of the team suffer's. Westbrook is blowing Curry away on the court, and it clearly shows based on their team's respective records in the series. Curry is not a bad player, he is just being defended by one of the game's best defenders. With the way Westbrook is playing currently, Mark Cuban must feel embarrassed after his comments on how Westbrook is not a superstar. Mr. Cuban, I just want say that you are very wrong, and Westbrook will be seen as a legend if he keeps playing at this level.
2. The Tunder: The Thunder are playing exceptionally well; better than they have played throughout the entire season. They are finally learning how to finish games; Steven Adams is showing that he is more than an average role player acquired in the Harden trade; Westbrook is playing like an MVP; and Durant is, simply put, Durant. Based on how they are playing currently, I can't think of any team in recent memory that could beat them besides maybe the 2012-2014 Miami Heat. I don't want to jinx it, but I think that any team in the finals will have trouble playing against the Thunder. The Thunder also has more depth at each position than the Warriors as well. They have the shot blocking machine Serge Ibaka on their roster, as well as Westbrook and Steven Adams who have both emerged as elite defenders. There is no stopping the Thunder at this point because they are on a roll in pursuit of their first championship title in franchise history.

All statistics are from espn.com or basketball-reference.com