SAN FRANCISCO – Too often this season, the Warriors have been guilty of playing poorly against their competition, which is why the Warriors are largely a result of the Western Conference and a spot in the NBA postseason. This is one of the main reasons why it took so long to do so.
The home loss to the San Antonio Spurs, who were without popular rookie Victor Wembaneyama, and the Miami Heat, who were without Jimmy Butler, come to mind. Golden State also narrowly lost to the Chicago Bulls in early March.
That certainly wasn't an issue Sunday against the Utah Jazz at Chase Center.
The Jazz came like a wounded antelope, but the Warriors attacked like ferocious Jaguars, pounced on nearly every mistake, and the Jazz limped back to Salt Lake City, losing 118-110. .
It was simply a case of a team heading into the postseason going about its business the way it should.
“We talked about it in our walkthrough today,” rookie Brandin Podzemski said. “This year, we had some plays where we lost to our competition. We weren't ready to play, so we took it for granted.” Draymond said in his walkthrough today. was emphasized well.
“I also realized that (the Jazz) might not be playing for anything, but they were still trying to win five games in the homestretch and move up as much as possible (in the standings). ing.”
Sunday's matchup at Chase Center had all the makings of a trap game.
Golden State had already secured a top-10 seed before the Houston Rockets lost to the Dallas Mavericks in overtime. And the Jazz were without several star players and riding into town on an 11-game losing streak.
It would have been easy for the Warriors to mail it in.
Instead, they came out and punched the Jazz in the mouth off the jump and never let up, except in the last few minutes of garbage time when Utah was able to make the score much closer than the game itself. It was.
“It wasn't a fair fight tonight,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “They were missing all of their guys. I have a lot of faith in Utah State. They were tenacious down the stretch and played really hard. But when you put the last few weeks together, you can see our potential. I think it has arrived.”
The Warriors have won seven of their last 10 games and still have a slim chance of moving up in the standings. They are now 1.5 games behind the Los Angeles Lakers, who lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday. The Sacramento Kings, who are eighth in the Western Conference with a record of 45 wins and 33 losses, are also within reach.
“It’s very important to control what you can control, win as many games as you can and let the chips fall when they fall,” Podzemski said.
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For most of the second half of the season, Kerr has expressed confidence that the Warriors can make a big jump and move up the standings.
Of course, there isn't much time left to do that, but as long as they play according to their own standards and don't disrespect any team, who knows what will happen.
“It's going to be interesting,” Kerr said. “We have four games left, but there are a lot of different possibilities. We have to keep winning. I feel like we're playing up to expectations. And we've found a pretty good rhythm.
“The problem, of course, is that the West has just loaded up this year. They'll probably finish better than last year, but they'll still drop somewhere between sixth and the play-ins. . That’s the way it is.”
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