DEFCON 1) Goal: Clinch the #1 Seed by April 11th To Get Rest
How do you know your team’s having a magical year? Not only do you want home court advantage throughout the playoffs (goal #3), but you want it by a specific date. With a 4 game lead over Memphis, the #1 seed is surely realistic but the rest of the Warriors’ schedule is rough…
- The Warriors are tied with Brooklyn for the least amount games played so far, meaning from now until the end of the season the Warriors will have the least amount of off-days.
- Out of those 28 remaining games, a whopping 8 are back-to-backs. But it gets worse, for only 1 of those back-to-backs are the Warriors at home for both parts of the back-to-back, the rest mean travel.
- The Warriors have an absolutely brutal stretch from March 23rd to April 9th. Listen to this wreckage…18 days, 10 games, and outside of honorary playoff teams Phoenix and New Orleans every game is vs. a current playoff team.
You may be asking how I picked April 11th? I mean if I’m picking a date in early April I should just pick the 5th (Easter) or the least favorite day of Americans everywhere, the 15th (Income Taxes Due!). My reasoning is if the Warriors have the west won by the 11th it will provide 3 regular season games for Steve Kerr to rest fragile players such as Bogut and Iguodala, and high usage players like the Splash Brothers. With the playoffs slated to begin on the 19th of April, this would provide a minimum of 8 days for the Warriors to get healthy for a deep run -it’s basically a 2nd All Star Break. Remember, the Warriors play at the league’s fastest pace and have an offense reliant on jump shooting, both styles of play that require ample leg strength. If you’re concerned about the team becoming rusty by such a long break I’d advise you to check the tape from the Warriors’ recent demolishing of San Antonio following a 9-day break.
But most importantly, these three leftover games will give Ojnjen Kuzmic time to officially begin his NBA takeover. Kuzsanity anybody?