Fixture Analysis: Golden State Warriors should hit the ground running

Recalling the beginning of the Golden State Warriors 2020-21 NBA season isn’t a pretty memory.

Pitted against Kevin Durant and the Nets on opening night, followed by Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks on Christmas Day, they were pummelled by 26 and 39 points respectively.

The Warriors rebounded to be 2-2 after four games, but from there, they seemed to hover around .500 for much of the season, that was until a Stephen Curry led charge saw them finish the regular season quite strongly.

Moving forward to the new season, the Golden State Warriors should be much better prepared to immediately hit the ground running.

After their opening two games, the fixture seemingly opens up quite favourably for them across the next 15 games, at least according to last season’s standings and general expectations.

The Warriors begin their campaign with matches against the Lakers at Staples Centre and at home to the Clippers. Fans should be rightly disappointed if they can’t grab at least one win given the Lakers integration of basically an entirely new roster and the Clippers loss of Kawhi Leonard to injury.

From there, over their next 15 games, the Warriors play just three teams who made the playoffs last season: the almighty Nets who many have as title favourites, and the Grizzlies and Hawks who the Warriors would expect to be better than this season.

They also have nine of these 15 games at home at Chase Centre, an arena they posted a 25-11 record in last season. Given this, and the quality of opponent they come up against, the Warriors should be well above .500 through the first 17 games.

The keyword there is ‘should’.

Nothing is guaranteed in life and the NBA reflects that. The Warriors will have to prove themselves and stave off other western conference hopefuls looking to make a leap, the likes of the Pelicans, Timberwolves and Kings

They’ll also be vulnerable to potential issues at the beginning of the season; how do they integrate the new pieces? What do the young players look like? Can they cope with Klay Thompson still sitting on the sidelines?

There’s plenty of storylines that make this season so interesting.

But even with the potential issues, there should be plenty of optimism that the Warriors can make a very successful start to a campaign they hope catapults them back towards the top of the league.