Seventy-four games into the season, the Warriors finally achieved a feat that had eluded them all year long: They won consecutive road games. Golden State is now a robust 9–29 away from the Bay this season after a 127–125 win over the Mavs on Wednesday, a dispiriting mark in what’s been a largely disappointing season for the defending champs. And yet, their win over Dallas also showed a glimmer of why it’s so difficult to count out the Dubs.
First, the disappointing part: Golden State is 38–36 with eight games remaining before the postseason. For a team with Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson, that is an embarrassment. Even though that trio has played in only 40 games together, that’s still considerably more than the Bucks’ top three of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton (20 games). And Milwaukee has 52 wins. It’s more than Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Desmond Bane have played together for the Grizzlies (23 games), but Memphis is ahead in the standings. It’s also more than the number of times LeBron James and Anthony Davis have suited up together (28 games), and still the Lakers are hanging around despite needing to completely overhaul their roster. Simply put, the Warriors can’t blame only their health. Their best players have been available enough.
One problem decidedly out of the control of Steph, Klay and Dray was the organization’s vaunted “Two Timelines” experiment, which deserves to go down as an all-time bust. Before the season, Golden State rather proudly pushed the idea it could both win now as well as build for its next dynastic run. The experiment involved pushing away key vets and rotation mainstays during the offseason (Gary Payton II, Juan Toscano-Anderson, Otto Porter Jr., Damion Lee) and largely replacing them with younger players (James Wiseman, Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody). We already know how Wiseman turned out: The team dumped him at the deadline to bring back Payton. Kuminga has been promising but still has to prove himself in the playoffs. Moody is not consistently a real part of the rotation. And when players have been hurt or ineffective, the Dubs have had to turn to two-way guys such as Ty Jerome and Anthony Lamb, who, while having some decent moments, aren’t scaring opponents.
