Looking back at the 2016-17 NBA season, I still get chills thinking about how dramatically the playoff landscape shifted in those final weeks. As someone who’s tracked the league for over a decade, I’ve rarely seen a regular season where the margin between dominance and disappointment felt so razor-thin. The Warriors, of course, were historic—racking up 67 wins with that fluid, unselfish brand of basketball we’ve come to expect from them. But what really stood out to me was the fierce competition for those final playoff seeds out West, where one turnover, one missed assignment, could tilt a team’s entire trajectory. It reminds me of a moment I witnessed in an international game not long ago—a player, much like some we saw in the NBA that year, committed a costly turnover with just over a minute left, his team down 10. That kind of pressure, that split-second lapse, echoes what separates contenders from the rest.
Golden State’s dominance wasn’t just about star power, though having Kevin Durant alongside Steph Curry certainly didn’t hurt. Their net rating of +11.6 was off the charts, and I’ve always believed that stat tells you more about a team’s consistency than win totals alone. But let’s be real—the Spurs were quietly brilliant, winning 61 games behind Kawhi Leonard’s two-way mastery. I’ll admit, I had them pegged as the one team that could genuinely disrupt the Warriors’ rhythm, even if their offense sometimes felt a bit methodical. Then there was Houston, with James Harden orchestrating that high-octane attack under Mike D’Antoni. They averaged 115.3 points per game, a number that still blows my mind. What made the Western Conference so compelling, in my view, was how each of these teams carved out a distinct identity—Golden State with their ball movement, San Antonio with their system, Houston with that spread pick-and-roll.
Out East, LeBron’s Cavaliers cruised to 51 wins, but anyone paying attention could see the cracks forming. Their defense ranked in the bottom third of the league, and I remember arguing at the time that they were leaning too heavily on LeBron’s genius. Boston, meanwhile, surprised a lot of folks—myself included—by snagging the top seed. Isaiah Thomas’s fourth-quarter heroics were must-watch TV; he averaged nearly 10 points in the final period alone. But if I’m being honest, I never fully bought them as a true Finals threat—not with that rebounding weakness. The Raptors and Wizards lurked as dangerous wild cards, though consistency issues plagued both. Washington, in particular, had stretches where they looked like world-beaters, followed by head-scratching losses. Sound familiar? It’s the same volatility we see when a talented player makes a critical error down the stretch—like that errant pass with 1:34 left in a close game, the kind of mistake that can haunt a team’s playoff seeding.
The race for the eighth seed in the West was pure chaos, and I loved every minute of it. Denver and Portland fought tooth and nail, with the Blazers ultimately clinching it—barely. I’ll never forget Nikola Jokić’s near-triple-double against Dallas late in the season, a performance that showcased his unique skill set. But Denver’s defense, well, it left a lot to be desired. They allowed 111.7 points per 100 possessions, a number that just won’t cut it in a playoff push. And that’s where the little things matter—the defensive lapses, the careless passes. It’s like that turnover I mentioned earlier: with 1:34 on the clock and a 10-point deficit, one bad decision can erase minutes of hard work. In the NBA, those moments multiply over an 82-game season, and they’re the reason some teams watch the playoffs from home.
When the playoffs arrived, the Warriors flipped a switch, sweeping through the West before facing Cleveland in a Finals trilogy. But let’s not gloss over Houston’s near-miss in the second round—they took Golden State to six games, and I’m convinced if Chris Paul hadn’t gotten hurt the following year, things might’ve been different. The Cavs, despite their flaws, bulldozed through the East again, though Boston pushed them harder than expected in the Conference Finals. In the end, Golden State’s depth and versatility proved too much, but I’ve always wondered how that season might’ve played out if Kawhi hadn’t gone down in the Western Conference Finals. One injury, one bounce of the ball—it all matters.
Reflecting on it now, the 2016-17 season was a masterclass in how the NBA’s marathon regular season tests every aspect of a team’s makeup. The Warriors set a new standard, but the real drama was in the middle of the pack, where playoff dreams lived and died by execution in clutch moments. Whether it’s a bad pass in the final minutes or a defensive breakdown in a must-win game, the line between dominance and irrelevance is thinner than we think. And as much as we celebrate the champions, it’s those gritty, hard-fought battles for positioning that remind me why I love this game—every possession counts, every mistake echoes, and greatness is often defined by who avoids the missteps when it matters most.