Preview: The wheels have fallen off

YOU THOUGHT YOU KNEW "SHORT-HANDED?"

Mar 15, 2026

Here at Dub Nation Headquarters we pride ourselves on our delicate balance of honesty and homersim, and so it is with a heavy heart that I come to you with the full brunt of today’s situation. Sadly, if you thought that the Golden State Warriors couldn’t get more screwed - what with the season-long loss of Jimmy Butler, the extended injury to Curry’s knees, and a roster generally in flux - the Warriors may have found a new bottom.

Not only were they short-handed coming into the last game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Warriors got beat up on the court.

Veteran forward Draymond Green was scratched 30 minutes before tipoff because of lower back soreness. Veteran center Al Horford left after five minutes with right calf tightness. Veteran guard Seth Curry limped to the locker room in the second quarter with left adductor soreness. And second-year center Quinten Post sprained his left ankle.

Currently in the 9th seed in a top-heavy Western Conference, the Warriors find themselves in freefall. And this isn’t the fun, controlled experience of the infamous Gravitron1 - no… this is all bad. A loud squeak in the front skateboard wheel. Golden State is grinding skin on asphalt right now.

No one wanted to find themselves here, but it’s pure delusion to call this anything but rock bottom.

"We're going through it," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. "We're about as beaten up as any team I can ever remember."

Hahahaha! This man saw Kevin Durant suffer a ruptured Achilles in Game 5, following a calf injury, and then he watched Klay Thompson tear his ACL in Game 6, just as the team was on the cusp of reclaiming inertia for the series. And still, Kerr woke up wide-eyed, and said the current situation is worse.

Woo!

GAME DETAILS

WHO: Golden State Warriors (32-34) at New York Knicks (43-25)

WHEN: Sunday, March, 15th, 2026; 5pm PDT

WATCH: NBCSBA

Plumbing the depths

With all deference to our more Gold-Blooded members, this is one of those Clockwork Orange toothpick in the eyeball games coming up. No matter what, this one will be tortuous. The Warriors, already egregiously thin in regards to the depth chart, find themselves further hamstrung, but still forced to run out some sort of reasonable effort at a win here.

The loss of both Horford and Post conjures a new dimension to the suffering. With Curry hopefully back after four more games or so, these minor dings will be extra significant due to their impacts on the team’s overall progress in Curry’s absence.

Tonight, the Knicks were likely to prevail, even with what was passing for a full strength Warriors team. Now? It’s going to come down to one of those random games where certain guys get really hot and others can’t hit anything.

To mitigate some of the injuries, the Warriors signed Omer Yurtseven to a 10-day contract from the G League. Interestingly, he’s one of those random role players that had absolutely lit up the Warriors, for whatever reason.

The 6’11” big man has had the two biggest rebounding games of his career against Golden State, though both came in close losses. Just over four years ago, in a game on March 1, 2022, Yurtseven had five points, 17 rebounds, two assists and two steals in a game for the Heat at Chase Center.
Just over two years later in April 2024, Yurtseven had 11 points and a career-high 18 rebounds for the Jazz against the Warriors, proving one of his 10 career double-doubles to this point.

It’s white knuckles and fingertips here, so why not take a flyer on a player’s top-end potential? If the highlights are at all true, this is a rim-diving big with some nice passing and defense.2

But this is also indicative of the Warriors’ desperation. Golden State is all out of answers, got called up in front of the class, and is now fishing for anything that might help. Any wisp of success at this point will be tremendously beneficial.

Everyone who is watching knows that this is a beaten up roster that’s doing it’s best to hold on until the return of Steph Curry - but whether or not that’s even a good move is yet to be seen.

We haven't really leaned into the Tank Brigade mindset here, but the reality is that the Warriors are quickly positioning themselves for a pretty nice reload opportunity. As we’ve seen in the past, these edge moments can be definitional. Whether the Warriors choose to leverage the assets within a trade, or look to find some potential new blood, Golden State is looking at a nice pick.

So, while it certainly isn’t the targeted outcome, it’s nice to know that the Warriors have a fallback plan of a solid tank. Even under the best circumstances, Golden State will find itself just on the outside edge of the NBA draft lottery.

In other words, the outcome may be bad, but the silver lining is very real.

I wish I had comforting thoughts for tonight. But I guess it comes down to the simple fact that the Knicks could easily lay a stinker. Maybe one of the Warriors gets hot, or a couple of key role players light it up. One way or another, any opportunity to grab a win tonight rests on something extraordinary happening. Which - against the backdrop of everything else going on in the world - may not actually be all that unlikely after all.

The wheels have fallen off, let’s embrace it!

Prediction

Why not. Warriors shock the world and pull out a win, Yurtseveren plays a not insignificant role.

I hope you are still watching these.

Besides the lean-out-and-clap at the beginning of the spin, the full inversion, handless handstand move was peak performance, when it comes to this famous carnival ride.

In the G League.