Adi Joseph

USA TODAY Sports

The Golden State Warriors are your NBA championship favorites, by a wide margin. That should surprise no one, even though they didn't win last season.

But the assumption for most of this year is that they weren't as good as last year - or as many expected when they added Kevin Durant this offseason. That's because last year's team went 73-9, while this year's team went 67-15.

So we're here to prove that 73-9 team might not be as good as this 67-15 team, even simply using what they did in the regular season. Here's a look at six key statistics that the Warriors improved on this year.

1. Point differential: 11.63

You might remember that the Spurs spent most of the 2015-16 season ahead of the Warriors in one of the most important statistics: margin of victory. Golden State did end up passing San Antonio, but its 10.76 average margin is almost a full point shy of this year's.

Margin of victory - considered by many to be the best, simplest predictive statistic - includes losses, too, so a 73-9 team having six fewer losses than a 67-15 team should stack the odds on differential in its favor. But quite simply, this year's team was more dominant with its blowouts.

2. Defensive rating: 104.0

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The Warriors had been an elite defense under Mark Jackson and in their first, championship-winning season under Steve Kerr. Then last year they slipped, from first to fifth, in points allowed per possession. No worries. They're back up to second this year, only a half-point per 100 possessions worse than the first-place Spurs.

The whole league had an offensive infusion this year - scoring went from 106.4 points per 100 possessions to 108.8 - but the Warriors' defense only allowed 0.2 more points per 100. Durant's rim protection helped, but the defense got even better when he went out and Andre Iguodala took on a heavier burden. Any slip is done with, and Draymond Green is considered the favorite for Defensive Player of the Year by many as a result.

3. True Shooting Percentage: .597

Last year's Warriors were the best 3-point shooting team of all time. They made 41.6% of their 3s, and 36.2% of their shots came from behind the arc. This year's team missed more (38.3%) and took fewer (35.9%). So how did their True Shooting Percentage, which weighs shots by how many points they're worth, actually rise?

The answer's as simple as you might think: They were a lot better on 2-pointers. This year's Warriors made 55.7% of their 2s, compared to last year's 52.8%. This was part of a massive league-wide trend: The entire NBA shot 50.3% on 2-pointers this year after 49.1% last year, a result of mid-range jumpers increasingly being wiped from players' repertoires. Still, the Warriors took it up a level beyond what anyone else could: the second-highest was the Rockets at .583.

4. Blocks per game: 6.8

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The Warriors led the NBA in blocks per game despite not having anyone averaging more than 1.6 - and despite losing their two best shot-blockers in free agency over the offseason. They went from 6.1 a game last year to 6.8 this year thanks mostly to Durant's emergence as a rim protector and JaVale McGee's emergence as a competent NBA player.

Making that rise even more impressive, blocks across the league decreased this past season. Even as players are driving more, they're smarter about avoiding getting blocked, or something. Plus, the Warriors maintained their status as one of the best at not getting their own shots blocked: They've ranked third each of the past two seasons in fewest blocks allowed.

5. Steals per game: 9.6

All the defensive playmaking! The Warriors leaped from No. 9 in the NBA with 8.4 a game to first with 9.6 this season. Similar to blocks, that leap is impressive because the NBA as a whole had fewer steals this year.

Durant (1.1) again helped, but this time the bigger factor was a team effort. Eleven Warriors (not the Ohio State football blog) averaged at least 0.5 steals a game, and that was a huge factor for a team that remains lethal in transition.

6. Total Kevin Durants: 1

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We conclude with the most important Warriors statistic of the year. But last year's team had zero Kevin Durants. Kevin Durants are a very good thing for a basketball team, even if Harrison Barneses were a bit under-appreciated, particularly in the Bay Area.

Now, the Warriors only have one Kevin Durant, and for a while this season, they had no Kevin Durants. But at the end of the season, it looked like they had a full Kevin Durant back. That's a very scary thing for a team that was already so good with zero Kevin Durants.

They also lead the league in Stephen Currys, Draymond Greens and Klay Thompsons.