Hear me out...America's new team, The Golden State Warriors

After Game 1 of the Western Conference finals between the Golden State Warriors and Oklahoma City Thunder, in which the Thunder pulled off a stunning win. There was a lot of media induced panic surrounding the Warriors and if their historic season would come to a shocking end at the hands the Thunder. The buildup around Game 2 and the common talking-head topic was this would be a "must-win" for Golden State.

Lost in all the "The sky is falling!" rhetoric is the Warriors are an insanely great team, correction, an insanely historically great team. And that was put on display in Game 2 as the Warriors crushed OKC by 27 points. 

Final score aside, the Thunder are not bums, in fact, they're a great team themselves. They have two of the five best players in the NBA on their roster. And if they didn't have cheapskate owners, the narrative would be much different. We could very well be talking about the Thunder going for their second or third title.

Let that serve as a lesson for all you future NBA, NFL, NHL or MLB owners, when you've drafted players of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden caliber. Don't get cheap and pay up, you've struck the NBA's version of the lottery, and the winning will make swallowing that luxury tax bill much, much easier.

For as great as the Thunder are the Warriors are on another tier. When they play their A-plus level of basketball, no one can keep up. Their offense is relentless and their defense smothering. Their offense has been well documented these last two seasons, they have the league's two best shooters in Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, a front court that can set effective screens and hit 3s, along with great spacing and the best ball movement in the league. Combine all of that together and what you have is the most dominating offense in the history of the NBA.

Curry is why Golden State is Golden State, but forward Draymond Green is equally as important on the defensive end. He's the reason they can go to their "Small-ball Death Squad," which consists of Curry at the one, Thompson at the two, Andre Iguodala at the three, Harrison Barnes at the four and Green at the five.

This SBDS is unbeatable when running on all cylinders. Offensively, it prevents any doubling of Curry because of the other four players' ability to score. Defensively, they become stronger as they can switch everything without any troubles. Green can defend positions 1-5 and their rotations are a work of art. Between the switching, the communication, the help defense and the one-on-one defense they are a cohesive unit that makes things incredibly tough for the opposing offense. 

Thompson and Iguodala are the shutdown specialist, Barnes is a good defender himself and even Curry has improved his defense. His first couple of years in the league he was quite the matador on the defensive end.

SBDS doesn't even sacrifice rebounding, Barnes is the tallest, at 6-8, yet their rebounding doesn't take a hit. OKC kept with their bigger lineup and were outrebounded by the Warriors 45-36.

The Warriors mental toughness also doesn't get enough run on the sports-talk shows. They could have broken at any point during the regular season with the pressure of trying to break the 72-win mark, LeBron James' Bill Lumbergh-like passive aggressive quotes and tweets, or when what seemed like every single NBA legend running to the nearest microphone to stay "this team is good but back in my day ..." The best part about all of this is they admit to reading or listening to what is being said about the them but aren't bothered by any of it.

And anytime they'd run into adversity and the airwaves filled with their impending doom. They'd always be relaxed and wouldn't be overly defensive when reporters badgered them with 'how are you going to fix this?' questions. In fact, it's as if they enjoy it, like when they lost to the Thunder in Game 1, they seemed to be happy with everyone saying they are in trouble.

Once Game 2 started there was a terrifying focus to them, so much that you worried for Durant and company. It was kind of like watching a lion stalk an unsuspecting gazelle or on Game of Thrones when any character speaks to Ramsey's Bolton. You wanted to warn them but what's the point, their fate is sealed.

The Golden State Warriors are the defending champs, won 73 games, have the two-time MVP and yet still play with a chip on their shoulders. What's not to love about this group?

They're a team in every sense of the meaning, Pat Riley's coined term, "The disease of me" for when a team wins a championship and all of the sudden everyone wants more minutes, a better role, or more money, hasn't hit this Warriors team.

They have a clear cut hierarchy, everyone accepts their role, and they genuinely love playing together. And not just when business is good, like a certain team in Cleveland, but when they lose it's like it strengths them because they bounce back stronger than before.

The NBA had a bad rap during the iso-ball era, and deservedly so, it wasn't fun basketball to watch, with Michael Jordan being the exception. But now that era is effectively dead and the pace and space era with an emphasis on ball-movement and finding the highest percentage shot is taking flight. It's refreshing that the Warriors, a true team, are front and center bringing the league to new heights.

Agree? Disagree? Email Alex Kuhn at [email protected].