In the history of the NBA, no team has ever overcome the ominous 0-3 deficit in a best-of-seven postseason series. And if the best indicator of the future is history, the Golden State Warriors will soon force the Dallas Mavericks to pack for the offseason. Behind a stellar 31 points from superstar Stephen Curry and a playoff career-high 27 points from Andrew Wiggins, Golden State beat Dallas in Game 3 of the West Finals on Sunday, 109-100, for a commanding 3-0 lead.
The Warriors have demonstrated their strength in numbers this spring, and of their bench players, no one's contributed at a higher level than third-year star Jordan Poole. Through 14 playoff games, the 22-year-old guard has averaged 18.9 points -- which ranks third-best on the team -- with 4.4 assists and a 15.9 player efficiency rating. Poole finished with 23 points in Game 2, and had also led all scorers in average points off the bench this postseason, per StatMuse.
"That kid is really good. I don't think he's a top 10-15 [player in the NBA], but a top 30-35. He's really, really good -- and I like his game tremendously," former NBA player Metta Sandiford-Artest told The DA Show on Monday. "He's a star, he's a complete player. He's got an old-school game. His body isn't ready for the older-school right now. But he's got game... Personally, I don't think this team is one of the all-time great Warriors teams.
"And if they go to the Finals and win, I still don't think they're an all-time great Warriors team. I like the [2016] team with Kevin Durant. But this team, they've got Stephen Curry. I just feel like he's a top 15-20 player, all-time. He can beat anybody, any given night, in this era or all eras. I think he's that good -- he's a different breed of player... He's now showing the different levels to his game."
The Warriors, which earned the West's third seed with a 53-29 overall record, will play Game 4 against the Mavericks on Tuesday night at American Airlines Center (9 ET tipoff). According to FiveThirtyEight's projections, the Warriors currently have a 95-percent chance to make the NBA Finals and a 27-percent chance to capture their fourth championship since 2015.
The entire NBA playoffs conversation between Sandiford-Artest and DA can be accessed in the audio player above.
You can follow The DA Show on Twitter @DAonCBS and @CBSSportsRadio, and Tom Hanslin @TomHanslin.