Curry returned quite quickly, so catching the Warriors is going to be difficult. I have been reading LA oriented web sites for an update on Davis (eye injury) and haven't found anything definite yet. So perhaps the Lakers as the new target and the Rockets bumping them out would not be easy for Silver to swallow either.
Yes, his eye injury didn't turn out to be that bad. Going back to the Warriors as the primary target to bump for a Playin slot. Curry Games Played Season.....Games 2016-17........79.... 2017-18........51.... 2018-19........69.... 2019-20..........5.... 2020-21.........63.... 2021-22.........64.... 2022-23.........56.... 2023-24.........61... Golden State is 35-32, so 15 Games left to play in the regular season. If they need Curry to play at least 10 more games to stay in pursuit of the Lakers (and hold off Houston), then he will have played at least 71 regular season games and he hasn't done that since the 2016-17 season. This link goes to Golden State Player Stats for the entire season. A bit of clicking gets one to various intervals such as by month. Golden State Month..........Games....MPG....3PA....3 Pt% October............4..........33.5...12.8.....47.1% November......13..........33.7...11.6.....41.7% December......13..........33.8...11.2.....37.9% January...........11..........33.6...11.8.....40.8% February.........14..........32.6...13.6.....41.6% March...............6..........28.9...11.5.....33.3% He is playing less MPG than the 33.X MPG that he played in October - January. Lately, his 3 Pt percentage isn't as good as it was earlier in the season. 1. Maybe he is able to get his three point shooting back to where it used to be. 2. Maybe he is able to handle a regular season of 70+ games. Neither #1 or #2 above are sure things for Golden State. It is still a bit too early for Silver to relax and think that both Curry and LeBron will make it to at least the Playin.
To be fair I never had them winning it all with Andrew Wiggins and Jordan Poole in 2022 either who knows..... They are way too old actually but if the Rockets did not surge the Play In spot would have been automatic for them.....
In that Championship season (2021-22), their regular season record was 53 -29. So they had HCA (Home Court Advantage) in some of the rounds in the Playoffs. If they are going to barely get into the Playin this season, it will be life on the road unless they get to the NBA Finals and they are playing an Eastern Conference Playin team such as Atlanta and maybe Chicago. On one of the pro Golden State Web Forums that I monitor, they had recent talk about finishing the Regular Season strong and finishing #6 so their team avoids the Playin Detour. That has quieted down, but still haven't shown much concern about Houston possibly bumping them out of the Playin. Using the Team Stats on the NBA web site. Golden State .....................Entire Season......Post All-Star Break Offense..............#10........................#16................. Defense.............#17........................#10................. Net Rating..........1.3.........................1.3................. Overall, they are running fast and not going anywhere because their recent improvement in Defense has been offset by a decline in their Offense.
Their role and that of the Lakers will be to annoy some of the so called West Contenders like Wolves and Thunder. Although this year they have been better equipped on the road in the regular Season than at home.
Indiana - Golden State Box Score ......................3 Pt........3 Pt.......3 Pt... ....................Made....Attempt.....%..... Curry................6..........18......33.3%... Thompson.......3..........10......30.0%... Team.............14.........48........29.2%... ******************************* From the same Boxscore ..............................Minutes Wiggins (29).............22:00. Kuminga (21)............29:39. Draymond (34).........33:19. Podziemski (21)........27:09. Curry (36)..................34:53. Thompson (34).........28:34. Jackson-Davis (24)....25:47. Payton II (31)...............7:33. Chris Paul (38)...........24:51. Moody (21)...................6:25. Curry is their second oldest player behind CP3 and he (Curry) played the most minutes. They are looking for him to carry them and he might not be able to do that on a regular basis going forward. ******************************** Their struggles on Offense continue and that was At Home Against the Pacers who aren't that good on Defense Golden State has 13 Games left. Four Home Games Nine Road Games Sunday, March 24..............@ Minnesota Tuesday, March 26.............@ Miami Wednesday, March 27........@ Orlando Friday, March 29.................@ Charlotte Sunday, March 31...............@ San Antonio Tuesday, April 2...................Dallas Thursday, April 4.................@ Houston Friday, April 5......................@ Dallas Sunday, April 7....................Utah Tuesday, April 9..................@ Lakers Thursday, April 11...............@ Portland Friday, April 12....................New Orleans Sunday, April 14..................Utah Maybe Silver is getting concerned about the Golden State situation.
I hope the Kings can pull off a miracle. Maybe Draymond gets tossed early, maybe Curry has a rare off night from his exhaustion of this season. Clay has a brickfest. It can happen! I gotta believe! LIGHT THE DAMNED BEAM!
I'm all for dunking on the Warriors but pretty hard to dunk on a group that has 4 rings the past decade tbh. It's like dunking on a dude that just had Beyonce divorce him. I mean yeah it sucks to take that L but at the same time...that dude had more Ws than Ls.
