Takeaways to know from Warriors' second-half schedule

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With the NBA All-Star break quickly approaching, so is the second half of the schedule. And finally, we have clarity on what that second half will look like as the league released the rest of the schedule Wednesday afternoon.

Skimming the schedule, one thing is clear: despite the Warriors being an inconsistent, middle-of-the-pack team thus far, they still garner national attention. The Warriors will have 12 nationally broadcasted games, not including five games that will be televised on NBATV. 

The Warriors will play eight back-to-back games, two of which will be against the same team. The Warriors will play three baseball-style series in the second half of the season. 

But let's dive into the schedule a little more. Here are some takeaways:

The toughest stretch right out of the gate

The Warriors' toughest stretch of the second half actually starts before the All-Star break. It starts on Sunday. 

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After the Warriors host the Charlotte Hornets on Friday -- which now is even more of a must-win game than before -- they will visit the Los Angeles Lakers, Portland Trail Blazers and Phoenix Suns (making up for a postponed game) all before All-Star weekend. 

Then, they open up the second half of the season visiting the LA Clippers, and then host the Utah Jazz and Lakers on back-to-back nights. 

That's the three best teams in the NBA in five days after a week-long layoff. Not to mention, one of them and two other top-six teams in the West the week before. 

This will be brutal for the Warriors. And while they have beaten the Lakers and Clippers before, they still aren't a team that is expected to beat them. Starting the rest of the season on this stretch will be a true test for the Warriors as they work toward finding some form of consistency. 

Longest road trip east

The Warriors have two three-game trips, one four-game trip, and one five-game trip, which is the longest in the second half of the schedule.

The Warriors will head out for their longest road trip in mid-April, hitting Oklahoma City, Cleveland, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington.

This isn't too bad of a road trip. It's balanced with some top teams, such as the Celtics and 76ers, and teams in the middle of the pack. It should give the Warriors opportunities to get wins here and there, but will by no means be a cakewalk. 

Looking at the Warriors' road schedule in general, nothing jumps out as "scary." That's unlike the first half of their season, when they visited Brooklyn, Milwaukee, the Lakers, Phoenix, Denver, Dallas, Portland... you get the point.

They got their most difficult road games out of the way early, and that should be a major plus for them this half. On paper, the most difficult road portion should be their games in Miami and Toronto (Tampa Bay) on April 1 and 2, and Philadelphia and Boston, on March 19 and 21. 

RELATED: Bold predictions for Warriors' second half

 

Closing the season at home

The Warriors will close out their regular season with six home games -- the longest season-ending homestand in franchise history and their longest homestand of the second half. 

The Warriors will host six teams in the final 10 days of the season, including one baseball-style series game against the Thunder. The other teams that will visit Chase Center are the Jazz, Suns, New Orleans Pelicans and Memphis Grizzlies. 

It could be the perfect season-ending slate for a Warriors team fighting for a playoff spot, or seeding if they're already in the mix. 

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