With one game remaining in the regular season, the time the Warriors have been waiting for is upon us.
For the week of Monday, Apr. 9 – Sunday, Apr. 15
Record: 2-2
One more to go.
After 81 games, six months of anticipation and 9,225 points scored, the Warriors' long-awaited playoff pursuit of another championship is about to commence, with only one game remaining before the start of the postseason.
The Dubs are firmly locked into the #2 seed in the Western Conference, and while their primary focus has been on getting healthy for the second season that is about to begin, that hasn't been the case for most other teams in the playoff push. Currently, only half of the playoff spots in the West have been clinched, and while all eight East playoff teams are already known, there's still so much to be decided in terms of seeding in both conferences.
It sets the stage for a dramatic conclusion to the regular season before the playoffs start this coming weekend. For the Warriors, they'll be happy to get the postseason started, as it's been a considerable grind to get to this point.
The Dubs were ravaged by injuries this season, forcing Steve Kerr to use 27 different starting lineups, nearly double the 14 Golden State used a year ago. And it wasn't as if the injuries were limited to guys on the end of the bench; the Dubs became the first team in NBA history with four All-Stars in back-to-back seasons this year, and all four All-Stars have missed significant time. Stephen Curry will conclude the regular season with only 51 games played due to ankle and MCL injuries, the fewest he's played in since his third year in the league. Kevin Durant has missed 14 games, Draymond Green has missed 12, and Klay Thompson will need to play in the regular season finale to become the only one of Golden State's four All-Stars to not miss double-digit games this season.
As such, it's been more than a month since all four All-Stars played together, and that context has to be considered when evaluating the Warriors' regular season as a whole. After all, that foursome has accounted for 57.8 percent of Golden State's points scored this season (5,332), and the Dubs have a regular season winning percentage of .798 (75-19) dating back to the start of last season when all four All-Stars are active.
The latter three of those All-Stars (Durant, Green and Thompson) all returned to game action at the end of March, however, and appear poised to lead the Warriors into what is expected to be an arduous trek through the postseason, for however long it lasts. Playing alongside them will be a group of seasoned veterans like Andre Iguodala, Shaun Livingston and David West, as well as some younger standouts who received valuable playing time this year, often as a result of those aforementioned injuries.
The Dubs did recently make a roster move, though, waiving Omri Casspi over the weekend. Casspi appeared in 53 games (seven starts) this season, averaging 5.7 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.0 assist in 14.0 minutes per game, but was squeezed out due to a roster crunch for the impending playoffs.
"It was difficult to go ahead and go through with it because he's been with us all season long and we love Omri and what he brought to the team," Kerr said prior to Sunday's win over Phoenix. "Great teammate. It was difficult to sit with him and tell him we were going to do this. But it was the only decision we could make under the circumstances…So this was the decision we had to come to. It wasn't fun."
"The main thing," Kerr continued, "is that Omri is a pro and a great teammate and he handled everything beautifully last night. I felt awful, but you have to do what you have to do."
Nobody knows that last sentiment better than the Warriors, who have participated in each of the last three NBA Finals. They know what they have to do to get to a fourth, and now, it's just a matter of going out there and making it happen.
Standout Spotlight: Klay Thompson
Before the Warriors' postseason run gets started, Klay Thompson had to issue one last reminder of exactly what he's capable of when firing on all cylinders. There are very few things in basketball that get all viewers, both in arena and watching on television, irrespective of team allegiances, as excited as watching Thompson catch fire.
We've seen him score 37 points in a quarter. We've seen him score 60 points in fewer than 30 minutes. We've seen him bring the Warriors back from near-death in a must-win playoff game. And on Sunday, we were reminded of how effortless he can make it look.
Thompson, who is shooting a career-best 44.1 percent from three-point range this season, was as hot as hot gets to start Sunday's game against the Suns. He missed his first shot attempt, but made his next seven and at one point had scored 19-straight points for the Dubs. He finished the first quarter having shot 9-of-11 from the field for 22 points, including four three-pointers.
Those 22 points were six more than the number of dribbles (16) he took in that entire first frame. That's not quite 60 points on 11 dribbles, but hey, who's counting?
The 22-point quarter was the eighth 20-point quarter of Thompson's career, and his first this season. He'd finish the game with a game-high 34 points, his second-highest scoring total this season.
With one game remaining before the playoffs start, Thompson has a chance to extend another personal milestone. He's averaged at least 21.7 points per game in each of the last three seasons, and enters Tuesday's game with an average of 19.97 points per contest so far this year. So, if he's able to score at least 22 points on Tuesday against the Jazz, he'll eclipse the 20-point scoring average plateau for the fourth-straight season. That scoring average holds particular significance to the Warriors, as Golden State is 31-6 this season when Thompson scores at least 20 points.
Thompson's ability to score in bunches will be even more crucial once the playoffs begin, particularly for however long the Warriors are without Curry. If he can sprinkle in a few performances like Sunday, it should bode well for Golden State's postseason success.
The Week Ahead:
With one game remaining on their regular season schedule, the Warriors have a chance to do what no other team in franchise history has ever done. With a victory on Tuesday night in Utah, the Warriors would clinch a better road record (30-11) than home record (29-12) for the first time in franchise history.
After their game on Tuesday, the Warriors regular season will be over, but they'll have to wait another 24 hours before they find out who their first round opponent will be. There are currently five teams separated by only one game for the final four playoff spots in the West, and as fate would have it, several of them play each other on Wednesday on the final day of the NBA regular season. As the #2 seed, Golden State will face the #7 seed in the first round, with playoff action beginning this weekend.
Till next season.