It’s been tough sledding for the Warriors (15–18) so far this season as the defending NBA champions have struggled mightily with chemistry and injuries through the first two months. But, while much has been has been made about the poor start, Draymond Green still believes there are plenty of reasons for opponents to worry about the team come playoff time.
To this point, one of the biggest knocks against Golden State has been a glaring 3–16 mark on the road, with the team dropping five games on a recent six-game road trip. The Warriors suffered back-to-back blowout losses to the Knicks and Nets on Dec. 20 and 21. To make matters worse, the second game of that trip, a 125–119 loss to the Pacers, saw Golden State lose Stephen Curry to a left shoulder injury that is expected to sideline him for multiple weeks.
As things currently stand, the Warriors occupy the 11th spot in the Western Conference, which would place them just outside the play-in tournament if the club remained in that spot at the end of the season. On Friday, when broached about the topic of the play-in, Green confidently shared a bold declaration regarding the Warriors’ chances, suggesting to reporters that their championship core of himself, Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, Kevon Looney and Jordan Poole should still be enough to get any job done.
“Is Steph Curry still on this team? Klay? Me? Wiggs? Loon? JP? I think we’ll be fine,” Green told reporters. “Quite frankly, if I’m sitting at the one or two seed, and I got those guys coming into my building, I don’t want to be there.”
While Green has never been one to lack self confidence, as evidenced by his hot take, the four-time NBA champion was just as candid while discussing what could be behind Golden State’s woes.
According to ESPN, Green admitted the team “has struggled from the spirit perspective” since the start of the road trip on Dec. 13, when the Warriors lost to the Bucks, 128–111. The four-time All-Star also stated that the team has been “struggling mentally” which has made it “hard to overcome anything else.”
“Right now, I think we are very fragile,” Green said Friday. “You start going through these things and then you start believing them. Once you start believing them, it becomes who you are. The only way to break them is by being mentally tough.”
With just under 50 games left to play, there’s still plenty time for the Warriors to turn things around before having to possibly back up Green’s prediction. But, it’s worth noting that if the season did end today, Golden State miss out on the play-in tournament as the Timberwolves (16–16) currently hold the No. 10 spot in the West.
As the Warriors continue to figure things out, the team will have two more days of rest before taking on Ja Morant and the No. 2 seed Grizzlies (19–11) on Christmas Day. It will be the clubs’ first meeting since their intense, crowd-pleasing Western Conference semifinals clash earlier this year, which Golden State won in six games.
