Making the playoffs is hard: just ask the 2008 Warriors

That team was noted for having the most regular season wins while missing the postseason; will these Warriors make the playoffs during their April push?

Wellp folks, that was certainly a tough 108-106 loss to the Dallas Mavericks for the Golden State Warriors last night.

I’ve got some sporadic thoughts to share as I try to level set how I feel about these Dubs.

• GSW is 42-35 with five games left to play. They’re currently pretty much locked into the 10th seed, two games behind the Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings, and four games up on the trash Houston Rockets.

• The Dubs finished last season with 44 wins in their ultimately doomed defense of their 2022 championship. That was good enough to get them a sixth seed keep them up and out of the play-in tournament, where they are historically 0-2 after being wiped out of the 2021 play-in tourney.

This team should definitely eclipse that win total, with games against the Utah Jazz (twice), Los Angeles Lakers, Portland Trail Blazers, and New Orleans Pelicans.

• Last year the number 8 seed when the regular season ended was the 42-win Minnesota Timberwolves, with a tie-breaker over the New Orleans Pelicans.

• In 2022, the #8 seed belonged to the 42-win L.A. Clippers.

• In 2019, it was the 48-win Clippers at #8.

• In 2018, it was the 47-win Timberwolves.

The 2008 Warriors set the mark for most wins without making the playoffs: “Despite finishing the season with a 48-34 record, six more wins than the previous season, the Warriors failed to qualify for the playoffs, as all eight seed teams in the Western conference finished with a 50+ winning record.”

So all these random statistical memories in my brain are giving me vibes: gratitude and concern.

Gratitude

I remember that old ‘08 Dubs team with a lotta fondness. Those guys were trying to take the electric We Believe vibes into something beyond a flash in the pan. They were supposed to take the lessons they learned in confidence and success and become more ruthless, wiser, and battle hardened. But in an extremely competitive Western Conference that season, the Dubs struggled to find a spot in the playoffs as the season waned.

They had a mid-April game against the Denver Nuggets for the rights to take that 8-seed. Those were the Allen Iverson-Carmelo Anthony Nuggets too, a very explosive team. Watching Baron Davis and Stephen Jackson take on those dudes was must see TV, with the fear of missing out of the playoffs haunting the proceedings. It was in the old Oracle Arena, a fiery cauldron made of concrete and Dub Nation’s unrelenting faith in their squad. That night the fans actually set an attendance record to root that special team on.

Alas, the Warriors couldn’t handle Iverson, Melo, and J.R. Smith LIGHTING THEM UP LIKE CHRISTMAS TREES.

The win moved Denver (48-31) a full game ahead of the Warriors in the race for eighth place in the West with only three games remaining. The Nuggets also control the tiebreaker, meaning they can clinch their fifth straight playoff berth by winning two of their final three games.

Golden State (47-32) probably will need to win its final three games and hope Denver loses twice to avoid the distinction of being the winningest team ever to miss the NBA playoffs. Houston won 45 games in 2000-01.

"They're in the catbird seat right now," Warriors coach Don Nelson said. "We've got a big problem as far as making the playoffs at this particular time. We're going to need a lot of luck and probably have to win out."

What a nightmare. That abruptly ended the Baron Davis-era with the Warriors, and it would be 5 years until the Dubs sniffed the playoffs again.

These current day Warriors are still alive in the postseason hunt, and that is a major salve from the sting of that past frustration and fanatical emptiness. The Dubs still have a puncher’s chance to make some noise in the playoffs. And unlike the short lived We Believe spark, these are the Stephen Curry Warriors, a proven champion of the modern era.

Concern

All that golden lore aside, let’s not ever forget this version of the Stephen Curry Warriors are the 10th seed out West for a reason. They have lost hella games, many in maddening fashion. Like last night when they were a Klay Thompson three away from stealing one in Dallas.

We’ve been hearing all season about Golden State’s crunchtime woes; did you know the Warriors are 4-11 in games decided by three points or less?

The hope is this team has enough dynasty magic and young springy pieces to suddenly put together the most magical of playoff runs to win their fifth ring and add one more golden chapter to their tome of dominance.

I absolutely think it’ll happen, if only because they’ve already done everything else. Win the championship as a #1 seed? Easy money. Win 73 games in the regular season, most of all time? Done. Now it’s time to be the first play-in tournament team to win a title, something the Miami Heat narrowly missed accomplishing last season.

But at least make the playoffs first, something that ‘08 team came so close to doing before their demise.

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