The best team in the West is on the rise. This franchise hasn't won an NBA title since the 1970s but led by a 26-year-old guard fresh off his first MVP trophy, it nearly won 70 games, finished with a double-digit point differential and won the Western Conference finals in five games.
I'm talking, of course, about the 2014-15 Golden State Warriors, who reached their first of five consecutive Finals a decade ago this week.
But all the same characteristics apply to the 2024-25 Oklahoma City Thunder, who advanced to the Finals with a 124-94 closeout win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday.