Golden State and the Kevin Durant enigma

No pro basketball fan would doubt Kevin Durant is a great player. The best right now? Maybe. But certainly in the top five.

But the Golden State Warriors are strange ducks. They've won championships without KD, and with him as well.

Let's not forget their regular season win record a few years back was set BEFORE Durant arrived on the scene.

Sure, any team would jump at the chance to have KD on their roster. He really is that good.

But do the Warriors "need" him? That's where things get a little bit tricky.

It's a given that Durant can "take over" a game all by himself. He might put up 40, even 50 points in any given contest. Thing is, while he's doing that, most of his teammates are just standing around watching the one man show. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

But when KD is NOT in the line-up, as he hasn't been recently due to a calf injury, it forces the other Dubs to play more like a "team". And a formidable bunch they are when things are clicking.

In the Western Conference semis, most, including yours truly, thought the Houston Rockets would knock off the Warriors in Game 6, which Houston had at home, and GS was fresh without the services of KD. But we all know it didn't work out that way. The Dubs went into Houston and polished off the Rockets -- again.

And now the Portland Trailblazers have faced a GS team without KD the first two games of the Conference Finals. Okay, no big surprise the Dubs came out and blistered the Blazers in Game One.

But the latter had the Dubs down at home throughout Game Two. Including holding a double digit lead with just a couple minutes remaining.

Then bang. GS went on an improbable 14-3 run and it was game over, just like that. It had to be demoralizing for the Blazers.

When Durant will be healthy enough to come back is unknown. Maybe Game Three in Portland. Maybe not.

But when he's in the line-up, the Warriors play an entirely different style of game.

It's almost unthinkable, yet the question needs to be asked. Are the Warriors better off with KD, or without?  A very good argument could be made either way, given the results of how they've played.

It's almost like the Warriors are in constant teaser mode. After all, the LA Clippers beat them twice, on GS's home court, in the opening round of the playoffs. Before the Dubs came roaring back to dispatch an obviously inferior opponent.

And Houston had them right where they wanted them, without Durant, until they looked up at the scoreboard when the final buzzer sounded. Oops.

Same with the Blazers in the above mentioned Game Two of the Conference Finals. They had them, they had them, they had them -- and then they didn't have them at the end.

With or without KD, no way are the Blazers going to beat the Dubs four our of five to go to the Finals. It's over.

But when they face their presumptive opponent, the Milwaukee Bucks, for all the marbles, things could get very interesting.

More on that later........