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Before the season began, The Crossover ran a roundtable asking five Sports Illustrated NBA experts for their Finals prognostications. Three predicted the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers would meet for their third consecutive battle. Andrew Sharp had the Warriors beating the Boston Celtics, and Lee Jenkins was the odd man out.

He predicted the Los Angeles Clippers would knock off the Cavaliers, opening his justification with the following:

Before my editors haul me off to an asylum, this pick assumes that something goes wrong in Golden State, and not just a lack of rim protection or an iffy bench. Recent history suggests that superteams take a year to win the championship, and even though the Warriors employ four megastars instead of the usual three, that also means there’s a higher chance one of them gets hurt along the way.

Thus, betting on the Clippers was, in part, a bet against the Warriors. After all, both Golden State and Cleveland entered the year as such overwhelming favorites that it bordered on insane to think the Clippers would look like the NBA's best team.

But then there's this: Led by a crazily accurate, Lasik-inspired Chris Paul and a fully healthy Blake Griffin, the Clippers have played so well that NBA Math's Team Rating has them on pace to be the best team in NBA history. It shows them stacking up against historical giants as such, based on how their offensive and defensive ratings compare to the league average:

2016-17 Los Angeles Clippers, 106.67 Team Rating 1995-96 Chicago Bulls, 106.38 1996-97 Chicago Bulls, 105.71 1970-71 Milwaukee Bucks, 105.65 2007-08 Boston Celtics, 105.61

The Warriors (104.84) and Cavaliers (103.4) have been the next best this year, but the Clippers are running away with the top mark.

Will This Change?

Yes, both because the Warriors defense should improve and the Clippers should eventually run into bench inconsistencies.