The Los Angeles Clippers at Chase Center on Tuesday, the Nuggets on Thursday in Denver and the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday. Consider those three games dress rehearsals for the Warriors’ postseason drive if the plan goes as announced by Draymond Green.
Draymond said Monday during his podcast that he is “targeting” his return for the March 14 game against the Washington Wizards at Chase Center and that he was excited to rejoin the Warriors and help “right the ship.”
There is quite a lot of ship to right.
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A defective defense. Malfunctioning mental focus. Poor or nonexistent communication. Offense out of order. The gas required to feed the flame essential for the Warriors to have any chance of reaching the NBA Finals, much less winning it.
The Warriors’ real postseason drive, aka the stretch run, begins the minute Draymond walks out for the opening tip, joined by Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson.
If it’s next Monday, as Draymond projects, that gives the Warriors 33 days, during which they play 14 games, to prepare for the first round of the playoffs that begin April 16. This assumes they remain in the top six in the Western Conference. At 43-22, they’re in third place.
A Monday return would be the second of a four-game homestand that runs through March 20 -- long enough that it’s conceivable both Andre Iguodala and James Wiseman also will be cleared to return.
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“It’s exciting to get (Draymond) back,” said Kevon Looney, the only Warrior to play every game, all 65 as a starter. “We haven’t had a chance to actually play with him and Klay together, and Wise, and see what our full team looks like. It’s exciting that guys are getting close, especially coming into this stretch of the season. We want to get some games under our belt and keep building that chemistry.”
The significance of returning during an extended homestand can’t be underestimated. Their 26-7 record at home is second only to the Pjoenix Suns (28-7). With nine of their first 12 games at home, Chase Center was the pad that launched the Warriors to an 11-1 start.
Here’s the tough part about those final 14 games: eight are on the road, and the records of five of the opponents over the past two months has been as good or better than that of the Warriors.
The Warriors are one-half game behind the second-place Memphis Grizzlies in the Western Conference standings. Can Golden State pull it together tightly enough to slip past the Grizzlies, whom they meet on March 28 in Memphis, and snag the No. 2 seed? That would allow the Warriors to not only open the first round at home but also have homecourt advantage should they advance to the conference semifinals -- possibly against the relentless Ja Morant and the Grizzlies.
Staying at No. 3 puts the Warriors in danger of a first-round series facing the Nuggets and the unstoppable Nikola Jokic or the Dallas Mavericks and the irrepressible Luka Doncic. Falling to five -- only a three-game drop -- presents a similar scenario, with the Utah Jazz also in the play.
“I feel great about where we’re heading,” coach Steve Kerr said. “I feel great about what’s in front of us and what’s possible for us to accomplish. I feel great about guys getting healthy and completing our team, roster-wise.”
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The goal now is for the Warriors to shed the bad habits that have tortured them over the past four weeks, during which they have lost nine of 11 games. Habits they have addressed with little success An inspired effort Monday by a deeply compromised roster in Denver was, however, a good start. Nothing more.
So, the Warriors have one more week to patch some of the holes that appeared over the last four weeks, three games until Green is expected back on the court to patch a few more of the holes that appeared during his two-month absence.
He can’t fix everything, as Kerr pointed out, but Draymond has long been among the NBA’s best repairmen.
“He’s been our energy, our spirit and our vocal leader,” Looney said. “To have him back on the court is going to make a world of difference. It’s going to change our offense and our defense.”
The clock is ticking. The schedule is looming. The next three games, if Draymond is prescient, are about the Warriors winning one or two but mostly tidying up.
It’s the 14 that follow that will determine a postseason fate that for now hangs in an uncomfortable balance.