Golden State Warriors: Exposing each Play-In team’s weakness
By Tony Pesta
The NBA Playoffs are almost here! But first, we get to see the Golden State Warriors and various other teams battle in the Play-In Tournament to decide the final seeds in each conference.
Golden State has handled business in the final half of the season to elevate themselves to eighth in the Western Conference. Their next few games will determine if they maintain a favorable position in the tourney or slip to the bottom two seeds.
Regardless, the Dubs should feel confident about their chances of winning the Play-In. They have the sixth-best record in the NBA over their last 15 games and have really been hitting their stride. If there is anything to worry about, it is their own inconsistency.
Every team in the Play-In has a glaring weakness. For the Golden State Warriors, it is their lack of consistency that could hurt them.
Before we jump into exposing the San Antonio Spurs, Memphis Grizzlies and Los Angeles Lakers — let’s talk about the Warriors’ weakness. I don’t think there is a bigger concern than their inconsistency as a unit.
It is hard to predict what the Dubs will look like on any given night. The trio of Draymond Green, Andrew Wiggins and Kelly Oubre Jr. could suddenly go ice-cold from the field at any minute. Meanwhile, the ever-rotating supporting cast of Damion Lee, Juan Toscano-Anderson, Kent Bazemore and Jordan Poole have all had moments of greatness and weakness.
Stephen Curry leads the team as one of the most consistent offensive threats in the league. Next in scoring is Wiggins, who despite his near 50 percent field goal clip, has had multiple dry spells throughout the season.
The same goes for Oubre, who has mostly put his horrid shooting behind him after an ugly start to the season. Nonetheless, Oubre and the rest of the Dubs’ supporting cast has had their fair share of shooting slumps.
Consistency is a thing that has been improving for Golden State over the last few months. It is partly why they’ve experienced so much success recently. But, due to the single-elimination format of the Play-In, the Dubs really can’t afford any of their core players to disappear when it matters most.
All things considered, the Warriors won’t have to worry too much about their own weakness if they are able to exploit the others teams they could potentially face.