Golden State’s possibilities to climb out of tenth place are rising slim. It is likely to be higher off.
When the Warriors misplaced to the Indiana Pacers Friday night time, their dwelling report dropped to 18-19. That is extra dwelling losses than they’ve had the final two seasons mixed, and a far cry from their 2014-17 run, the place they misplaced solely 9 video games at dwelling mixed.
They’ve had a variety of stinkers at dwelling on the Chase Heart, dropping video games to the 23-48 Toronto Raptors, the 34-37 Chicago Bulls and the 15-56 Spurs, who had been taking part in with out Victor Wembanyama.
In November, they misplaced 5 straight dwelling video games, together with consecutive pairs of video games to the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder and Minnesota Timberwolves.
A number of the dwelling losses have been brutal, like when the Warriors blew an 18-point fourth quarter result in the Denver Nuggets and Nikola Jokic hit a game-winner from 40 ft on the buzzer.
They misplaced one dwelling sport in additional time, one other in double OT and one the place DeMar DeRozan hit a game-winning and-one for the Bulls’ first win within the Bay Space since 2015.
All of that signifies that taking part in on the highway for the 9-10 play-in sport, after which the following sport for the No. 8 seed won’t be the worst end result for the Warriors. For no matter cause, they play tougher on the highway.
Final 12 months within the playoffs, Golden State misplaced by 19 factors at dwelling in Recreation 6 of the primary spherical earlier than beating the Sacramento Kings on the highway.
Within the 2022 NBA Finals, the Warriors received two video games in Boston, the identical as their two wins at dwelling. With Golden State 4.5 video games out of eighth place, it is time to embrace the “Highway Warriors” mentality.
Particularly with the Houston Rockets sizzling on their heels. The Warriors are about to start out a five-game highway journey starting with three video games in opposition to playoff groups.
They higher get used to taking part in on the highway, as a result of that is their solely path to the playoffs. And even the play-in.
