Why Warriors’ upcoming homestand is critical to playoff hopes

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Why Warriors’ upcoming homestand is critical to playoff hopes originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

As the Warriors sit uncomfortably on their 20-20 record expressing opinions about what’s best for the future while advising the front office to proceed with caution, the NBA schedule is blowing a kiss to Golden State.

None of their next nine games, over 18 days, requires packing up and getting to the airport. Eight of those games are at Chase Center and the other involves a bus ride to Sacramento, where they will spend one night in a hotel.

This amounts to the Warriors’ last best chance to shed the monotonous misery of the past eight weeks. If they can’t find their way out of the quagmire by Feb. 4, any chatter about making a deep playoff run will sound irrational.

If they can exploit nearly three weeks of home cooking, any chatter about reaching the NBA playoffs and becoming a threat feels more realistic.

“We know we can be competitive. We showed that toughness tonight,” Stephen Curry told reporters in Minneapolis late Wednesday after the Warriors closed a four-game road trip with a 116-115 win over the Timberwolves. “Every team is trying to find ways to get better and for us, we’ve been great for a very long time.

“This is just a unique year where we have to be able to stay relevant, give ourselves a chance and just have some life in a playoff series. And we have a whole lot of confidence that we can beat anybody.”

If ever that attitude is going translate into repairing this fractured season, it should be now.

The Washington Wizards come into Chase on Saturday. They have the NBA’s worst record (6-33). Then, on Monday, the Boston Celtics come in the first of their four-game swing through the Western Conference. Golden State won at Boston (28-12) in November, so this is a chance to sweep the defending champions.

The Warriors then travel to Sacramento (21-20) for perhaps their most consequential non-playoff game there since the Kings arrived 40 years ago. Golden State lost the last two matchups by a combined 54 points. Another blowout would validate a change in the Northern California hoops…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/why-warriors-upcoming-homestand-critical-065756514.html

Author : NBC Sports BayArea

Publish date : 2025-01-17 06:57:00

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