After spending the last nine days undoing the progress of the past five weeks, the idea that the Warriors will move from 10th to sixth in the competitive Western Conference is accelerating towards the ridiculous.
The last chance to escape the NBA Play-In Tournament, feared by players who finish seventh or eighth and hated by players who finish ninth or 10th, will be held Saturday in Los Angeles, with Stephen Curry is expected to return against the Lakers.
“He looked great,” coach Steve Kerr told reporters in Los Angeles after practice Friday. “He feels good.”
Curry returned from practice feeling optimistic about being cleared to take the court at Crypto.com Arena.
“If everything goes well after practice today, that's the plan,” said the two-time MVP, who celebrated his 36th birthday on Thursday. “We have a game tonight. We've been working hard all week to get back as soon as possible, so it's nice to be back with the team and have some good energy.”
Remember the sight of angels filling the sky above Dub Nation and the sound of hallelujah coming from the anxious choir.
this is the golden state last That's because a loss to LA would eliminate their chance of winning the season series and eliminate their last sliver of tiebreaker advantage. Additionally, the Warriors would need to win 13 or 14 of their final 16 games to have a good chance of clinching the No. 6 seed.
this is the golden state the best However, since there is curry, it's a good chance. Who better to summon in times of trouble than a wizard?
Last April, when the Warriors were on the verge of being eliminated by the Sacramento Kings in the first round of the playoffs, Curry pulled the Warriors out of trouble with a 50-point outburst in Game 7 with a sack.
Facing the prospect of being one game away from elimination against the Celtics in the 2022 NBA Finals, Curry came to the rescue with a 43-point gem in Game 4 that quieted Boston's raucous crowd. It sent chills across New England. Mid-June.
The Warriors won both series because Steph played at his best, carrying players on his shoulders and running away from danger.
That's the Steph they need right now.
“We need him,” Kerr said. “Tomorrow is a big game, obviously every team is big, but it's especially a game between the team in front of us and the team we're chasing.”
“So I'm excited to have Steph back and I hope we can have the whole team together tomorrow and be at our best for the rest of the season.”
The Warriors, who have lost three of their four games since March 7, when Curry sprained his right ankle, have gained momentum with a 14-4 record that began with a win over Philadelphia on January 30. stopped.
As of Friday night's tipoff, they are one game behind the Lakers, three games behind the Mavericks, 3.5 games behind the Suns and four games behind the No. 6 Kings.
It became clear last week that neither the team's established veterans nor the team's oft-touted depth will be enough to provide the short-term relief needed to keep the offense afloat without Curry. Became.
Klay Thompson has done it in the past, but not this time. Andrew Wiggins is capable of it, but he didn't do it this time. And it's unreasonable to expect Chris Paul to drop 30 points a few times when he's more of a maestro than a soloist.
Golden State's most impactful player during Curry's three-game absence was Jonathan Kuminga, 21. He didn't become a regular in the starting lineup until six weeks ago, enduring three DNPs in the playoffs last spring.
Curry's history is that he tends to answer absences with loud performances. His return sent an adrenaline rush throughout the roster and increased confidence in the team's direction.
The Warriors need all the faith they can muster. They need to believe they are better than they were in the first half of the season, better than they were when they lost four of their last six games and better than their 3-13 record against the top five teams in the West.
If the Warriors advance to a first-round series, they have to hope that their fitness for playoff basketball makes the regular season metrics meaningless because it's a different game.
They must first survive the 17 games remaining on the schedule starting Saturday. Unless Callie carries a disproportionate weight again, she has little chance of survival.
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