Warriors gain ground in “8 Games To Make or Break The Season”, now face The Killer 8
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Warriors gain ground in “8 Games To Make or Break The Season”, now face The Killer 8
Exceeding expectations in the most bummer way possible
So, how did those Eight Games go?
Let’s check in on my “eight games without Steph to make or break the season”. I targeted this stretch as a crucial one that could decide the season. I anticipated needing to go 3-5 in order to keep playoff hopes alive. If we can just get into the playoffs with healthy starting five, then GSW will have a fair shot.
Target: (2-1)
Fri, Feb 24 vsHouston - win
Sun, Feb 26 vsMinnesota - win
Tue, Feb 28 vsPortland - win
Target: (1-4)
Thu, Mar 2 vsLA - win
Fri, Mar 3 vsNew Orleans - win
Sun, Mar 5 at Los Angeles - loss with Steph
Tue, Mar 7 at Oklahoma City - loss with Steph
Thu, Mar 9 at Memphis - loss with Steph
On the positive side, GSW did MUCH better than I anticipated, going 5-3 instead of 3-5. On the negative side, they’ve looked worse and gotten less healthy since Steph has come back. And they started so well that some people got excited that the team had turned a corner instead of just celebrating that the team played their hearts out to win five straight massive comeback wins.
Let’s look ahead to the next stretch:
Things will get worse before they get better: The Killer Eight
This is a rough stretch, even if Steph is back at a high level. 5 game road trip sandwiched by three home games against serious contenders. They should beat ATL and HOU. The other teams are better, but if they can steal just one game, that makes them 3-5 and 37-38 by the end of this. That should be right in the middle of the scrum for the play-in.
Target: (3-5)
Sat, Mar 11 vsMilwaukee
Mon, Mar 13 vsPhoenix
Wed, Mar 15 at LA Clips
Fri, Mar 17 at Atlanta
Sat, Mar 18 at Memphis
Mon, Mar 20 at Houston
Wed, Mar 22 at Dallas
Fri, Mar 24 vsPhiladelphia
The home stretch
7 games to go, and GSW will have to go 3-4 to make the target of 40 wins. But this is a stretch where a Full Squad could make a last ditch run.
SAS and probably OKC are trying to lose. DEN and SAC may be resting.
Target: (5-2)
Sun, Mar 26 vsMinnesota
Tue, Mar 28 vsNew Orleans
Fri, Mar 31 vsSan Antonio
Sun, Apr 2 at Denver
Tue, Apr 4 vsOklahoma City
Fri, Apr 7 at Sacramento
Sun, Apr 9 at Portland
Emotional balance for the next two weeks
Just a suggestion. This team is unlikely to “turn the corner” unless everyone gets healthy and health seems unlikely until near the playoffs, if at all.
So for the rest of the season, we are going to see a .500 team that is struggling to stay in the mix while working its healing components back into the team. This next stretch of games is HARD. The home games will be against better teams, and you shouldn’t look down on any road game in the NBA (except to teams trying hard to lose).
The next eight games aren’t a referendum on whether Poole should be traded in a salary dump, whether Draymond should be waived, whether every player under 32 should be traded for a backup center. They won’t prove that the players are gutless, that Kerr has no concept of lineups, that Myers destroyed the team, that the league has solved the Warriors.
They are just a hard stretch of games to be survived. Prepare for GSW to lose the majority of them, but pull for them to win each game in front of them and for them to stay in the mix going into the final 7 game stretch of the season.
The next eight games are going to be TOUGH, so if you can’t deal with watching the injured, battered lion in winter valiantly trying to figure out things out and probably losing more than they win, you might need to avert your eyes.
De Fense! Clap clap. De Fense! Clap clap.
Warriors gain ground in “8 Games To Make or Break The Season”, now face The Killer 8
Welp, it's been a minute. Still checking out DNHQ and enjoying the articles/comments, but haven't really been inspired to comment, until now...
When the Dubs won the chip last year, I thought to myself: "That's it - that's the last one." Felt it in my bones, as they say. But also, this season's landscape seemed so clear and so obvious. The core had nothing else to prove. The two-timelines would average out to a .500 team (not that I predicted the standing, but the spirit of the thing), and the league just seemed poised to eclipse the Dub's style of play/players.
And when Draymond punched Poole, I was absolutely convinced it was over: 'The Punch that Toppled a Dynasty'. Here again, this was just a very strong feeling and indicator that the wheels were already falling off...
So I want to talk about 'fan empowerment' - something that has been guiding my (lack of) engagement and interest this season. We all know about player empowerment as the capacity of players to remain loyal/engaged with a particular team. Fan empowerment (for me) is the right to remain loyal/engaged with a particular team (or not). And when you see players, or an entire team, largely checked out and uninterested in competing at a high level? Yeah, that's when their lack of engagement leads to my lack of engagement.
And (tin foil hat time), I don't think the Dubs ever had any intention of competing this year. I think the core has accomplished more than they could imagine - they changed the game forever. I don't think the Dubs were necessarily 'tanking' all season, but I absolutely think they only had plans to play with intensity at Chase. Home games keep the fans/crowds relatively happy even though the team is totally checked out for the most part. Home wins keep fans coming to Chase to pay the bills and maintain the Dub's growing real estate dynasty (it's what will pay the bills in many cases). And home wins maintain the thinly-veiled fiction that the Dubs had any intention of competing this year.
I sincerely applaud the conviction and continued engagement here at DNHQ, but the landscape of this season was obvious since Curry hoisted the FMVP last season. Heck, listen to the way Curry speaks about his career in the media (podcasts, interviews, etc) - it's almost always in the past-tense, with the tone of an elder statesman in the twilight of his career. Can Curry dominate for a few more years? Of course. But I don't think he needs/wants to. And maybe we (the fans) need to respect that.
Mavericks are 5-7 since the Kyrie Irving trade (3-6 with Luka in the starting lineup with him).
Clippers are 4-5 since the trade deadline (2-5 with Westbrook).
Timberwolves are 4-6 since they made the 3-team trade.
And Lakers are 8-3 since the 3-team trade. I still can't believe they got DLo, Vanderbilt, AND Beasley by dumping a washed up point guard and some mediocre role players.
Edit: Also, Suns are 7-3 since the Kevin Durant trade (3-0 with Durant in the lineup). So the Suns won big time in their trade as well.