Why West standings give Warriors reason to keep believing

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Why West standings give Warriors reason to keep believing originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO – Three months into a 2024-25 NBA season in which every hint of momentum hit a brick wall, the Warriors take comfort in knowing they exist in a space where their unwavering confidence is not irrational.

The Western Conference is where four teams are certified, three are dismissed and the other eight – which includes the Warriors – can easily find reasons to believe.

“I bring it up every week,” coach Steve Kerr said Monday after practice. “And I remind the guys how many teams out there in the history of the NBA have climbed up the ladder after slow starts. When we played Boston [in the 2022 NBA Finals], for example, they were .500 team in January. And they flipped it. They found their groove.”

Those Celtics were 23-22 through their first 45 games before going 28-9 over their final 37 games to snag the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference.

The Warriors are 22-23 through 45 games. They enter this week in 11th place in the West and searching for a groove they haven’t seen in two months.

But they are grateful to be in the West, among a glut of teams that know their place in the standings can change dramatically in a few days. The fifth-place Los Angeles Lakers are five games ahead of the 12th-place San Antonio Spurs and four games in front of the Warriors.

The Warriors have three games on the schedule this week, with the Utah Jazz (dismissed) on Tuesday, the Oklahoma City Thunder (certified) on Wednesday and the Phoenix Suns (a believer) on Friday.

“It’s an opportunity,” second-year guard Brandin Podziemski said. “It’s a good place to be. Now, at this point of the season, nobody expects us to do much, just based on what our record is.”

The Warriors have been more prey than predator. But three wins over the Minnesota Timberwolves (believer), two wins over the Memphis Grizzlies (certified) and wins over the Houston Rockets (certified), the Thunder and the defending champion Celtics suggest there is considerable potential for progress.

Golden State is in the middle of a stretch during…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/why-west-standings-warriors-reason-165458751.html

Author : NBC Sports BayArea

Publish date : 2025-01-27 16:54:00

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