The Golden “S”

The Golden State Warriors (33-27) are once again in a funk.

In the past two weeks they have done their best Kal-El impersonation by confusing the masses with their inconsistent ways. For a stretch they were clumsy and unimpressive much like Clark Kent as their play led to a six-game losing streak.

With the team seemingly falling apart, the Warriors ditched the glasses and dressed shirt in a phone booth and morphed into Superman. The Dubs won three straight games with the signature victory coming against the San Antonio Spurs (47-14) on February 22nd.

With Oracle Arena and the rest of the Bay safe once again, Kal-El got rid of the costume and posed again as an ordinary civilian. Golden State’s recent four-game eastern road trip failed to produce any victories and this may result in the Warriors having to fight until the bitter end of the regular season to participate in the postseason.

The Hollinger Playoff Odds still give Mark Jackson’s team more than a fair chance of making the playoffs, but the odds have dropped. When we looked at the State of the Warriors last week, they had a 90.8 percent chance of earning a playoff berth.

Here we are less than week later and those odds have taken a slight dip. Golden State now has an 83.2 percent shot of hosting a least two postseason games this spring.

Because the Houston Rockets (33-28) have one of the easiest remaining schedules, they are all but assured to earn a spot in the tournament. Have a look at the Western Conference standings courtesy of ESPN.com.

Consequently, Golden State now has to battle with the Utah Jazz (33-27) and Los Angeles Lakers (30-30) for the seventh and/or eighth seeds.

Let’s quickly look at what the schedule has in store for the GSW.

  • Games left: 22
  • Home games left: 16
  • Road games left: 6
  • Games versus opponents with .500 record or better: 11
  • Games versus opponents with sub-.500 record: 11

In addition, have a look at some of the top teams that the Warriors will face between now and the end of the regular season:

  • March 11th: New York Knicks
  • March 20th: at San Antonio Spurs
  • April 11th: Oklahoma City Thunder
  • April 15th: San Antonio Spurs (potential game where Popovich rests starters)

More importantly, here are the dates when Golden State will be playing head-to-head against teams that will be vying for their potential playoff spot:

  • March 8th: versus Houston Rockets
  • March 17th: at Houston Rockets
  • March 25th: versus Los Angeles Lakers
  • March 30th: Portland Trail Blazers
  • April 7th: versus Utah Jazz
  • April 12th: at Los Angeles Lakers
  • April 17th: at Portland Trail Blazers

Mark Jackson and his unit are for all intents and purposes masters of their own destiny. They will get an opportunity to compete against the teams that will be challenging for their playoff spot and thus can either claim that opening themselves or essentially just give it away to another team.

Warrior of the Week

The selection here should come as no surprise whatsoever. Last week Stephen Curry set the league on fire with his averages of 33 points, 6 assists and 3 steals per game on 52.4 percent field goal shooting, 52.1 percent 3-point field goal shooting and 90.9 percent free throw shooting.

The highlight of the week came on February 27th when he slapped the New York Knicks with a spectacular 54-point eruption at Madison Square Garden. The Davidson product was the team’s best and most important player last week.

Perhaps the Superman costume is actually his…

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