It is no secret that the Golden State Warriors have struggled to build significant momentum during the season; except their 10-game winning streak in the early stages.
The Warriors have a little luck on their side. A favorable home schedule has Golden State in an optimistic mood. Tonight, the Atlanta Hawks visit the Warriors. Mark Jackson’s club will play nine of their next 11 games at home and 13 of their final 20 games inside Oracle Arena, too.
Warriors’ forward David Lee is on record of saying, “now it’s time to go back to Oracle, and our thought is that we shouldn’t lose any more games at home this year, and it’s something that we talked about.”
The Warriors are 18-10 at home thus far, and the goal of not losing another home game might not be too far-fetched. If the season ended today, nine of the Warriors’ 13 opponents would not qualify for the postseason. As a matter of fact, the Hawks are barely hanging on to the 8th seed in a weak Eastern Conference.
Something to keep in mind: The last time Golden State produced winning basketball against a string of eastern conference teams, they came back home and lost five of their next eight home games.
Co-owner, Joe Lacob expressed his concerns with the inconsistent basketball his Warriors put on display at home. The issue was more of the fact that Oracle Arena is known for the home-court advantage aspect.
Never forget the embarrassing home loss to a Spurs team that was missing Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili.
The Warriors are 38-24, in the East this would be a solid record, but in the Western Conference, it is not enough to secure a top 4 seed. Golden State is currently the 6th seed, but they plan to make a rapid climb with this favorable home stretch.
The addition of Steve Blake allows Stephen Curry to acquire some much need rest. Blake has 21 assists and one turnover in his last five games.
Here is tonight’s matchup:
Atlanta (26-33) at Warriors (38-24), 7:30 p.m. CSNBA.
Here is an outlook on the Warriors’ final home stretch:
Tonight – Atlanta (26-33)
Sunday – Phoenix (36-25)
Tuesday – Dallas (36-26)
March 14 – Cleveland (24-38)
March 18 – Orlando (19-44)
March 20 – Milwaukee (12-48)
March 22 – San Antonio (45-16)
March 28 – Memphis (34-26)
March 30 – New York (22-40)
April 4 – Sacramento (22-39)
April 6 – Utah (21-40)
April 10 – Denver (26-34)
April 14 – Minnesota (30-30)