Warriors have made hay without Stephen Curry, and are in prime position for another championship chase
Perhaps the rosiest takeaway from what has been a slog season for the Golden State Warriors is this: Over their last 20 games that Stephen Curry has missed due to his injuries, the Warriors have managed an 11-9 record.
This most recent stretch without Curry, who has been out with torn ligaments in his leg since Feb. 4, the Warriors, if you include the win over Dallas in which Curry exited after 26 minutes due to the injury, have gone 6-4. This while the rest of the Western Conference has failed to separate.
That 6-4 mark over the last 10 games is better than the Clippers, Mavericks, Timberwolves, Jazz, Pelicans and Blazers, all of whom are within two games in the loss column of the Warriors, who currently occupy the West's No. 5 seed.
That's right. After all the Warriors have endured this season, much of their own lackadaisical doing, they are just two games back of a top-four seed with 20 to play. Of course, they are also just two games clear of the lottery line, so they're not exactly out of the woods.
But with Draymond Green back from his short injury absence, Curry close to returning and Klay Thompson having been in vintage form for the last two months, the Warriors will be in pretty prime position assuming Andrew Wiggins eventually works his way back into the lineup, which he's expected to do. Remember, the Warriors will be presumably adding Gary Payton II back into the fold come playoff time as well.
It just cannot be overstated how big this has been for the Warriors to not just tread water, but actually move up in the standings with Curry and Wiggins both out for extended time; when Curry went out on Feb. 4, the Warriors were in the No. 8 spot. Now they're No. 5.
They've made their hay against the lowly likes of the Thunder, Wizards, Timberwolves, Rockets and Blazers, but nobody cares about that. The record is all that matters at this point in the season.
Anything close to .500 without Curry would've been more than acceptable. That they're above .500 so far is a huge boost to their chances, but there's still more to do. Curry isn't back yet and the Warriors face a tough back-to-back versus the Clippers and Pelicans, both teams packed tightly into the same seeding race as the Warriors, on Thursday and Friday. But the Warriors are reportedly optimistic that Curry could return next week
If you're a Warriors fan, don't count your chickens yet. Every Game without Curry is a dicey proposition, and again, a couple losses could still send the Warriors plummeting down the standings of what is a certifiably sardine-packed conference. But they seem to have withstood the gloomiest part of the storm, and with 20 Games to go, they're starting to see the light of another championship chase coming into view.
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