Just two more games, and a playoff picture that's becoming clear
Just two more games, and a playoff picture that's becoming clear
Jazz or Nuggets in the first round? No easy ones in the second.
The Golden State Warriors are just about done with their regular season campaign, but they’ve got one more back-to-back to take care of before calling it a wrap. First up is this afternoon’s opponent, the San Antonio Spurs (and then tomorrow they’ll get the New Orleans Pelicans to close it out).
For Golden State, it remains to be seen how seriously they want to chase wins over these last two games. Not exactly meaningless (since the outcome will help set the seeding and matchups for the playoffs), but with the ongoing background noise of injuries, the priorities are somewhat influx over these final two contests.
At time of writing, there’s no injury updates. Everyone is where they’re expected to be, in regards to the injury report.
GAME DETAILS
WHO: Golden State Warriors (51-29) at San Antonio Spurs (34-46)
WHEN: Saturday, April 9, 2022 // 5:30pm PDT
WATCH: NBCSBA
What’s the playoff picture look like?
The Golden State Warriors are currently assured to be either the 3rd or 4th seed in the Western Conference playoffs, but there’s still a lot of wiggle room. Coach Steve Kerr has already pointed to the impending rest. At a minimum, Klay Thompson, Otto Porter, and Andre Iguodala won’t be playing in at least one of these remaining back to backs. But as the playoffs approach, it’s going to be interesting to see how much of a priority the team puts on establishing a rhythm, or if the recent wins is enough momentum.
From a matchup standpoint, it’s a tossup.
As the four seed, the Warriors would get a stumbling Utah Jazz team in the first round, but a likely earlier matchup against the powerhouse Phoenix Suns team.
As far as preferences go, I’m fairly ambivalent.
Prediction
I’m thinking the Warriors treat this one as the final tune-up before coasting across the finish line tomorrow. One factor to consider is that the Warriors roster has been so thin, for so much of the season that they aren’t exactly flush with unused players that can mop up heavy minutes. So the ideal here is light duty both nights — we’ll see if the opponents cooperate!
[Author’s note: sorry for the short article, but i’m on vacation!]
Honestly the technical foul thing could and should be cleaned up so easily. It should be a massive penalty to talk back to an official. Just shut up and play. You can get a tech for arguing with an opponent. Fine, it happens. But there is no benefit to the players, the fans, the game flow, the refs, the league for a player to bitch about calls. Complain at all? Kicked out. Do it again? Suspended ten games. Games would go faster, players could focus on playing. This whole myth of "because he got a tech that inspired the team" (coach or player) would I utterly bet not hold up to any statistical analysis. Giving away a point is not a rational choice unless you're convincingly persuaded that the team will respond with an additional two points. I doubt that's true. It's like the Dixie Chicks were once famously shouted at: "Shut up and sing!"
Ok GT will go live in about 20 minutes. LETS GOOOOOOOO