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Off the Golden State Warriors go for a joyous jaunt around the country’s East Coast. A leisurely vacation to eat cheesesteaks, visit Walden Pond, and so on and so forth.
Umm . . . and apparently do their job, which is to play basketball games.
The Warriors are embarking on a five-game road trip starting tonight. Five-game road trips are not fun or easy. They’re especially not fun or easy when you have the worst record and net rating in the entire league.
At that point they’re just plum daunting.
Here’s who the Warriors face on their road trip: the Philadelphia 76ers (9th in record, 9th in net rating); the Boston Celtics (8th, 2nd); the Cleveland Cavaliers (28th, 29th); the Washington Wizards (24th, 25th); and the Brooklyn Nets (18th, 20th).
As far as road slates go, that’s actually not too bad. After facing two of the East’s elite, Golden State gets a pair of games against bad teams, before finishing things up against mediocrity personified.
Of course, even the bad teams are better than the Warriors, and winning on the road is no easy task. The Warriors are 3-20 on the road this year which, according to my notes, isn’t particularly good.
As winnable as the games are on the back end of the road stretch, the Warriors will be weary from a long trip. They won’t be favored in any of those games. It’s entirely possible that they return from their road trip with the same 10 wins they departed with.
Last year the team had two road trips of five or more games. They went 3-2 in the first, and 5-0 in the second. The year before? 6-0 and 4-1. In 2016-17? 4-1 and 3-2. The 73-win season? 6-1 and 6-1. The first championship year? 5-0, 4-1, and 3-3.
So if you like trends, I guess gear up for some Warriors win.
Otherwise, go into hibernation. Wait until we’re good and well into February. Then you can come out.