A couple quick questions:
1. How much trouble are the Warriors in without Steph Curry?
Well, let me put it to you this way: they just got blown out by the Jazz 110-91, who are struggling to even make the playoffs, in Oakland.
We were literally running the B-Squad, headlined by our G-League rookie running point and as leading scorer. With the addition on Draymond, it might not have been a blow out, but Dray doesn't really provide offense. With the addition of just Klay that would have been a much closer game, and with Durant, a win for sure.
but here is my analysis I posted yesterday elsewhere:
The Warriors haven't exactly been expending the same effort on defense during this regular season as they may have in the previous 3. If anything, since ASB, they've shown that they are actually capable of playing that kind of defense, they just haven't extended it for more than 1-2 qtrs in any particular game before they became sloppy and passive again. (in other words, this team has not been focused/"locked in" this season at all)
And I'm sure we (Warriors) can beat whoever is in the 7th seed w/o Steph, but I really think that comes down to who that ends up being for it is a 5 game or 7 game series.
OKC has an unreal amount of motivation against the Warriors. They only have 7 games left over the next 3 weeks and considering their position, 3 more losses could put them out of the playoffs all together. 5 of their next 7 is against playoff/potential teams (including the nuggets, who have beat them 2/3 games so far this season.) 1 of those games will be against the Warriors who will want to see them miss the playoffs. NO, HOU, SA are the other 3 playoff teams they are facing.
MIN I'm not all that worried about facing, and it's much more likely as they have a much easier schedule than OKC from here on out. 5 of their 8 final games is against teams not making the playoffs, and the only team that poses a potential threat is The Lakers.
The 3 teams they really gotta worry about is DEN x2 and The Jazz
The Spurs w/o Kawhi isn't really on my radar as a threat in a 7 game series. It might go to 5 w/o Curry, but I'm confident we got that. But looking at their upcoming schedule... they might be watching the playoffs from home anyway. 6 of their next 8 are all playoff/potential teams here (7 if you wanna count the Lakers that haven't been technically ruled out yet). The only gimme game they got is vs The Kings
The Pelicans.... they've been playing great, especially after doing 5 in 7 days and only losing 1, that 1 being to the Rockets.
I'm not sure how they'll hang against the Dubs minus Curry, but we've beaten all 3 times this year so far. Getting a clean sweep in the regular season will go along way with cleaning them up in the post season too. Unfortunately for them, 6 of their last 8 are also against playoff/potential teams, but I'm sure they'll win atleast half of those (SA, CLE, LAC, possibly OKC too)
LAC... no worries here. They would be lucky to make it in. 8th seed, 7th seed, 6th seed, i see it being in and out for them. 7 of their final 9 (8 if you count LAL) all playoff/potential teams fighting for position. But like I said, I think they'll be lucky to seed at all.
The Jazz I have some reservations about, but only if they actually start hitting shots and for whatever reason, we haven't flipped that defensive switch. I don't think they take a 7 game series, but I see them making it tough w/o Steph on the floor. I shouldn't even count their next 3 games w/ Memphis, Dallas, and a depleted Celtics. But the 5 games after that, they play the Lakers 2x, and the Clippers, so they have a good chance of maybe climbing up from that 8th seed where they currently sit (hopefully to that 4th or 5th seed tho)
The Nuggets I'm not really sure about. Outside of Jokic, I can't remember who's on the team. I ain't worried about this team though, they just lost to Miami, Memphis and Dallas this month. But their remaining schedule is full of position jockeying teams too, so who knows if they climb into the playoffs or not. Everything is so close between 4-10.
and if you wanna include them....
The Lakers - maybe next year. Great push at the end, but too little too late this season.
The hardest thing to determine is who will be in any position from 4-8
and Steph is determined to come back during the 1st round (assuming it longer than a 4-5 game series).
Kerr thinks we can get by Rnd1 w/o him, but I'd rather he be ready to go just.in.case.
It's a damn shame we can't NBA 2K it and turn off injuries and fatigue so we can get all teams at their best giving their all. This season has been plagued with injuries, luckily some teams are able to weather those storms
So to get back to the questionA couple quick questions:1. How much trouble are the Warriors in without Steph Curry?
in the 1st round... assuming everyone else comes back healthy and no more injuries.... not much. But I doubt any team outside of LAC gets done in less than 5-6 games.
Quinn Cook has turned out to be pretty good. with him running starting Point, and Durant and Klay to outlet to, we'll be alright. He very active on D and producing on O.
but unfortunately McCaw is a BUST offensively. dude can't find his shot for nothing. another '15/'16 Harrison Barnes.
2nd unit w/ Klay, Liviingston and West will be fine as long as the later two can hit shots.
if the 2nd unit can maintain or extend a lead, we are in good shape.
Bell needs to be a little more aggressive on Offense, and Damion Jones didn't look bad in his limited minutes last nite either.
Overall I think we'll be fine in the 1st round.