Things are getting bleaker by the week for the Golden State Warriors, as their chances of reaching the 8th seed took another hit over the past seven days. The Warriors now appear doomed to finish on the wrong side of the Play-In bracket, one that would require two wins just to book a spot in the playoffs.
Injury wise, things are trending in the right direction for Golden State. Stephen Curry has been incorporated into live actions and will be re-evaluated once the team returns home, opening the door to a possible return at some point soon. Moses Moody's re-evaluation on Saturday showed good progress and he's been upgraded to questionable for Monday's game in Dallas. Moody has been out since injuring his wrist on March 2, with Golden State Warriors going 2-8 in the 10 games he's missed.
Despite starting the week on a somewhat high note with a win over the lowly Wizards, the Warriors were unable to steal another one the rest of the way, falling to 1-4 on the road trip. The offense wavered, an old demon came back to haunt them, and injuries kept on coming. Let’s go through the positives and negatives of another underwhelming Warriors week.
125-117 win over the Washington Wizards
What worked
After stubbornly sticking to their three-point-first formula for what felt like weeks, the Warriors finally decided it was time to adjust. Against one of the worst defenses in the league, the Warriors attempted a season-low 32 threes and scored a season-high 68 points in the paint. That shift in approach spurred the Warriors to score their most points (125) since Feb. 25 against the Grizzlies.
Kristaps Porzingis and De'Anthony Melton were the catalysts behind that turnaround. Porzingis, the former Wizard, put together his first 30-piece as a member of the Warriors, finishing with 30 points on 8-of-13 shooting and 13-of-14 from the free-throw line. The big man also added five rebounds, four assists, two steals and three blocks to round out a stuffed stat sheet.
Melton relentlessly attacked the rim, launching just two threes (that he both missed). He poured in 27 points on 12-of-17 shooting from the field to go along with his five rebounds, four assists and two steals.
Steve Kerr etched his name a little deeper in NBA history by capturing his 600th win as an NBA coach. By reaching the milestone in 943 games, he surpassed Red Auerback (953) for the fourth-fastest coach to reach the mark, trailing only Phil Jackson (805), Pat Riley (832) and Gregg Popovich (887).
What didn't
The sole fact that the Wizards stayed in the game for most of it is a concern. Washington came into the game with the worst defense and third-worst offense in the league. The Warriors should have been capable to put the game away quicker. Plus, allowing the third-worst offense to hang 117 points on you isn't ideal
120-99 loss to the Boston Celtics
What worked
While Golden State struggled mightily to put up points and restrain Boston from doing so, they did a decent job in basically every other category.
They forced the Celtics — a team that commits the fewest turnovers per game in the league (12.3)— to cough it up 16 times. They went to the line 24 times, though leaving seven points at the stripe. And they were active on the glass, snatching 14 offensive rebounds for 28 second-chance points.
What didn't
The contending Celtics politely made it clear that they were an echelon above this striving-to-make-the-playoffs Warriors team.
Their suffocating defense held the Warriors to just 40% shooting from the floor and 23.3% from three, while limiting the Podziemski/ Melton backcourt to just 15 points on 2-of-17 shooting.
Jaylen Brown (32 points) and Jayson Tatum (24 points) outscored Golden State's entire starting five (52) by themselves.
In his first game returning to TD Garden — a place he won an NBA championship in 2023-24 — Porzingis finished with 11 points, five rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks, shooting just 30.8% from the floor. As in the first matchup, the Celtics seemed to have all the answers to keep the 7'2" big man in check.
115-101 loss to the Detroit Pistons
What worked
In a game where points were hard to come by for the Warriors, LJ Cryer (10 points) once again reached double figures in his return after missing two-straight games. Gary Payton II extended his streak of double-digit games to seven after tallying 14 points in the loss.
What didn't
The Pistons, despite missing two superstar Cade Cunningham and another key piece in Isaiah Stewart, flat-out dominated the Warriors inside. On the back end of its back-to-back, Detroit outscored Golden State 74-44 in the paint.
With Cade out, Deniss Jenkins was the only true playmaker Detroit had at its disposal, and he carved the Warriors up, finishing with 22 points, seven rebounds and eight assists.
The game was basically lost in two areas: the aforementioned paint debacle and the Warriors’ inability to take care of the ball. A season-high 26 turnovers, which turned into 32 Pistons points, were enough to bury any hope. Simple math shows that the Pistons literally won the game that way, as they outscored the Warriors 116-101 by flexing its muscles and capitalizing on Golden State's miscues.
To add to the matter, Porzingis exited the game in the second quarter after tweaking his back on a drive to the basket and didn't return to the game.
126-110 loss to the Atlanta Hawks
What worked
A game that was touted as Jonathan Kuminga's revenge game turned into a complete dud.
The former Warrior ended his night with just two points on 1-of-9 shooting and was a -6 in a 16-point win. But Kuminga didn’t just misfire all night — he was well defended. Credit goes to Nate Williams who stayed glued to Kuminga’s hip throughout the game. In addition to clamping down on the defensive end, the two-way forward set a new career high with 19 points on clinical efficiency.
What didn't
A surmountable two-point deficit at halftime quickly turned into an inevitable 10th loss in 12 games. The Hawks opened the third quarter on a 25-5 run, blowing the game wide open. Atlanta never looked back and sent the Warriors packing for Dallas.
Just one day after setting a new season-high in turnovers, Golden State committed 21 more, bringing its total to 46 over a two-game span. Over a week-end Dub Nation will try to forget as quickly as possible, the Warriors recorded as many turnovers as assists, with 46 apiece. Not ideal for a team that was already struggling to put up points.
Brandin Podziemski had one of his least impactful game of his young career, scoring just five points and dishing one assist. Another rough night shooting the ball (2-of-6) sunk his field goal percentage to 28.6% over his last four games.
Up next
The Warriors will travel to Dallas to take on the Mavericks on Monday night, wrapping up their six-game road trip in Texas. After going winless through a rough stretch of opponents, the schedule drastically softens up. Golden State will host the Brooklyn Nets (17-54) on Wednesday and the Wizards (16-55) on Friday, giving them a chance to string together a couple of badly-needed wins.
The Warriors are finally rounding into shape with just 11 games left on the schedule. The main priority now shifts to working Curry and Moody back in ahead of what's shaping up to be a challenging Play-In run.