By Henry Penalosa | Contributing Writer
For the last three years, the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers have represented their respective conferences and faced each other in the NBA Finals. At the beginning of the 2017-2018 NBA season, there wasn’t much to suggest that they wouldn’t face each other once again, but the regular season changed expectations.
A whirlwind of on- and off-season injuries to key starters and rotation players hurt the Warriors’ season record, while the Rockets acquisition of Chris Paul and the continued improvement of the Mike D’Antoni offense helped them jump from third to first this season.