The Golden State Warriors are teetering on the edge of a more favorable position in the playoffs.
With their win on Friday night against the Washington Wizards — their third win in a row — they've now come back to within half a game of the 9th-seeded Trail Blazers and 2 games back from the 8th-seeded Clippers. With 8 games left on the schedule, the Warriors are within striking distance of securing the 8-seed and two cracks at making the playoffs, if not the 9-seed and the opportunity to host a win-or-go-home game.
The health of the Warriors will obviously be important for this stretch, particularly for players like Steph Curry and Al Horford, but one man seems to be shaping up to be a real difference-maker: Kristaps Porzingis.
Steve Kerr Addresses How Warriors Can Improve
Against the Wizards, Porzingis had his second-highest point total as a Warrior, dropping a game-high 28 points on an efficient 9-17 shooting from the field and 5-11 shooting from beyond the arc.
After the game, Steve Kerr complimented Porzingis' transition into being a focal point of the offense, then pointed out how the Warriors need to integrate him more effectively and refine their overall offensive game plan.
"I think we’re getting better with it. The biggest thing with our team is just our decision-making. The first half we had three turnovers and we generally just played a solid offensive half. Then second half we got crazy again, nine turnovers, most of them unforced. We just have to understand the value of the ball. It gets a little tricky in the NBA these days, everybody plays so fast, everybody’s launching threes. There’s times where the NBA game it looks like a pickup game at times because everybody is just launching and playing fast. In some ways we have to reteach the value of time, and score, and hitting singles, decision-making. All it takes is a bad shot and a turnover and the whole game flips."
Turnovers, in particular, have been one of the notable drawbacks for the Warriors in the past few games. Though they didn't have much trouble against the Wizards, only coughing the ball up 12 times, their previous four games before Friday all saw 21 or more turnovers in each game.
How Will The Warriors Fare Down The Stretch?
The Warriors will need to make some big splashes in the home stretch of the regular season if they want to climb out of the 10-seed.
A lot hinges on the health of Curry and Horford, but if things stand as they are, the Warriors will likely have to pull out some upsets.
Their remaining schedule consists of five teams firmly in the playoff race in their respective conferences — the Nuggets, Spurs, Cavaliers, Rockets, and Lakers — and a season finale matchup with the Clippers that may have some big stakes, just like last year.
Realistically, the only two "easy" games will come against the Kings in the final week, but if the Warriors want to make up ground on the Blazers and Clippers, they'll have to find some wins elsewhere against some strong opponents.