A 10th in the West, the Golden State Warriors‘ playoff hopes are hanging on by a thread as the season reaches its final stages. Despite the record, and the recent injury to Stephen Curry, head coach Steve Kerr apparently still believes that his team is primed to make a deep and memorable playoff run.
“I feel really strongly that our team is primed if we can really stay healthy down the stretch, get Steph back,” said Kerr. “I feel like we can make a really good run. You never know what happens. You do that, you could end up in a good spot and set you up for a good playoff run.”
After losing in the second round to the Lakers last season, Warriors GM Mike Dunleavy Jr. responded by trading away Jordan Poole for Chris Paul with hopes of stabilizing the bench unit. He also drafted Brandin Podziemski and re-signed Draymond Green to a multi-year deal.
Unfortunately, it’s been more of the same this season for the Dubs. In a continuation of mediocrity, they’ve been painfully average all season long and are currently 3.5 games out from the 6th seed with Steph still questionable to miss some time.
At this point, doubt has never been so high in the Warriors and it’s looking more and more like their time of dominating the league has long since passed. And while nobody is willing to count them out completely, it’s hard to ignore the problems and flaws with the Warriors as they are currently constructed.
What’s Wrong With The Warriors?
While it’s hard to pinpoint just one area of weakness for Golden State, health and durability is a good place to start. This season, the Warriors have struggled to stay healthy and many of their core guys (including Steph, Chris Paul, Gary Payton II) have been in and out of the lineup. Curry is the latest one to go down and things could get ugly if he does not return soon.
Klay Thompson has tried his best to stop the bleeding but his play has been pretty rough for a while now. With averages of 17.2 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game on 42.2% shooting, Thompson’s efficiency has been a nightmare and his defense has fallen off significantly from what it was in his prime.
Strangely, with the Splash Bros struggling, not even Andrew Wiggins has been able to get right. He was demoted to the bench for the Warriors before leaving the team due to an undisclosed “family matter” and he hasn’t been focused at all since winning the title.
These components, mixed with the rising competition in the West, and you’ve got the perfect recipe for the Warriors’ downfall — which is happening in real-time this season despite their best efforts.
But even with all of this, the Warriors know who they are and will not let the world forget what they’ve done. As long as the “big three” are healthy and together, they will always have a chance to win it all and that’s the mindset they will carry until Curry, Klay, and Draymond are no longer wearing their uniform.
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