Warriors week 20 review/week 21 preview

The Golden State Warriors are slumping something fierce right now, as they’ve lost a season-high four straight games, and six of their last seven. They fluctuate between lifeless performances and excellent performances with epic late-game meltdowns, and honestly, neither of those things are very fun.

For better or for worse, it doesn’t get easier this week, as the Dubs have an absolutely brutal four-game schedule. Two things are clear: they need Draymond Green back, and they need to play better even without him.

Now let’s dive into the week that was, and look forward to the week that will be.

Where they stand

Record: 43-21
Standing: 2nd seed in the West (0 games ahead of the Memphis Grizzlies, 2.5 games ahead of the Utah Jazz)
Offensive rating: 14th (112.4)
Defensive rating: 2nd (106.8)
Net rating: 4th (+5.6)

Team ratings are garbage-time adjusted, courtesy of Cleaning The Glass.

Weekly recap

Tuesday: Lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves 129-114
Thursday: Lost to the Dallas Mavericks 122-113
Saturday: Lost to the Los Angeles Lakers 124-116

For a while it seemed like it was shocking when the Warriors had a week in which they didn’t win every game. That time now feels like a distant memory after a week in which the Warriors didn’t win a single game. They got murked by Karl-Anthony Towns and the Wolves. They had a comeback attempt arrogantly dismissed by Luka Dončić and the Mavs. And then LeBron James hung 56 on them as the Lakers rallied from behind to steal a win.

A bad week. No other way to put it. Just a really bad week.

Performance of the week

Steph Curry vs. the Mavs: 21 points, 5 rebounds, 9 assists, 1 steal, 8-for-15 shooting, 4-for-5 threes, 1-for-1 free throws.

Curry’s performance against Dallas was frustrating, but through no fault of his own, as he was brilliant. Instead, it was frustrating because Dallas thwarted a Dubs comeback by routinely throwing a second — and sometimes a third — defender at Steph as soon as he crossed half court, and Golden State had no counter.

Moses Moody was able to have his best performance as a pro because of Curry’s gravity, and his stellar passing out of the traps, but the chef didn’t take a single shot in the final frame. It was a brilliant performance, but also indicative of how much the Warriors struggle to counter these defensive schemes when Draymond is out.

Honorable mention goes to...

Jordan Poole vs. the Mavs: 23 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 8-for-12 shooting, 3-for-6 threes, 4-for-4 free throws.

The Dubs may have lost a disappointing game in Dallas but it was not without magnificent performances from both Curry and Poole. After two disastrous contests out of the All-Star break, Poole put on a clinic vs. the Mavericks, showing just how dangerous of a bench weapon he can be.

Highlight of the week

JP showed off a lot of different tools from the toolkit with this play: quickness, burst, awareness, agility, craftiness, and a masterful touch around the rim.

This week’s schedule

Monday: @ Denver Nuggets (38-26), 6:00 p.m. PT
Tuesday: vs. Los Angeles Clippers (34-32), 7:00 p.m. PT
Thursday: @ Denver Nuggets (38-26), 7:00 p.m. PT
Saturday: vs. Milwaukee Bucks (40-25), 5:30 p.m. PT

Well, that’s a fairly brutal schedule. There’s a back to back, in which the Dubs have to travel from Denver back home. There’s two games against a very good Nuggets team that recently beat the Warriors, and sandwiched between them is a contest against the Clippers, who always seem to give Golden State fits.

And then just to cleanse the palate at the end of the week, the Warriors get to host the defending champs.

Lovely.

Easiest game of the week

Tuesday vs. the Clippers.

Make no mistake: there is nothing easy about playing the Clippers, ever. They’re tough, always want to outwork opponents, have sneaky talent, are currently riding some momentum, and have one of the league’s top coaches.

So this is no shade in their direction, just a sign of how rough this week’s schedule is for Golden State. They get to play the Clippers at home, with some rested starters as Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Andrew Wiggins area headed back to the Bay Area and skipping Monday’s game.

On that note...

Hardest game of the week

Monday at the Nuggets.

The Warriors are not only attempting to beat a good Nuggets team on the road, but they’re attempting to do so without Curry, Thompson, Wiggins, and Gary Payton II, in addition to Green, Andre Iguodala and James Wiseman ... and possibly Otto Porter Jr. and Juan Toscano-Anderson, too.

That does not sound easy. Let’s hope for a repeat of the game against the San Antonio Spurs.

Prediction time!

I appreciate the optimism in last week’s review/preview, as only 7% of respondents predicted an 0-3 week. The most common selection, with 45 of the vote, was the Warriors going 2-1.

Let’s keep the optimism going!