The Golden State Warriors trailed 3-2 to the Houston Rockets in the Western Conference Finals last season and could easily have been eliminated if it wasn't for an injury to Chris Paul in Game 5. But despite that hard-fought seven-game series, Klay Thompson doesn't view the Rockets as the biggest threat to the two-time defending champions. Instead, he sees the Boston Celtics as their main challengers for the title this year. He doesn't expect any team in the west to stop them from reaching the finals for a fifth consecutive campaign. According to this season's odds, the Warriors and Celtics are the favourites to win their respective conferences. Thompson is certainly of the same opinion and is wary of the threat coming from Boston. 

"I like the team out East in Boston," Klay told ESPN at the Warriors Media Day.

"They've got a very nice young team. One through five -- they've got a team that kind of mirrors ours, as far as their length, guys who can shoot and play defence, and an unselfish way about things.

"So I think that they are going to be a team to reckon with."

Confidence in Boston

There are many people who will agree with the five-time All-Star and that view is shared in the Celtics locker room too. 

Kyrie Irving recently declared that they're capable of beating the Warriors in a seven-game series. 

"Because of who we have and what we're establishing here, not just for this season, but for hopefully for the next few years, something that's pretty special," Irving explained, per ESPN.

"I've played against Golden State in three straight Finals -- two that I was able to participate in -- and seeing them evolve, with the talent they have, and then adding DeMarcus Cousins [this offseason], it's like 'OK, the whole league is on notice.'

"But there's one factor that they're aware of, and I'm aware of, and that's that I've seen them up close.

"I've played them so many times. We've gone in a seven-game series [when he was in Cleveland], so I know what it takes."

With such a deep and talented roster, the C's are arguably the one team best equipped to compete with the Dubs and it's certainly the finals matchup that most neutrals are hoping to see.