Despite a 119-103 loss to the reigning champion Denver Nuggets on Sunday, the Golden State Warriors remain in their best stretch of the season having won 10 of their past 13 games.
Things are still looking up for the Warriors -- they're in their best period of the season, have found combinations that work, and have practically everyone on the roster available to play. The last piece of the puzzle is Chris Paul, with the veteran point off the injury report and available to play against the Washington Wizards on Tuesday.
The Golden State Warriors' roster depth is likely to cause Steve Kerr some more headaches over the remainder of the season
Roster availability is often a blessing for teams, but it can also prove a curse for head coaches looking to navigate through different lineups and rotations. That's exactly the issue Steve Kerr faced earlier in the season, often leading to frustration for fans as the Warriors struggled after a bright start.
Golden State have been less fortunate with availability over the past couple of months. Draymond Green got himself suspended for 16 games, while Paul, Gary Payton II and Moses Moody each had their injury issues.
In a way that proved a blessing in disguise. Green believes his suspension helped the rise of Jonathan Kuminga, with the veteran forward stating, "JK has taken off, and that has set the stage for this team."
Less availability leads to less rotation questions, more importantly providing greater defined roles and clarity for players. But now the Warriors are back to square one -- a deep roster with at least 12 players who are fighting for minutes.
At least they now have a defined starting five, even top six if you include Klay Thompson as the set-in-stone sixth man. Yet even then, Kerr maintained last week that his team will have fluid closing lineups that could change on a nightly basis.
"Once we're fully healthy, we're going to have a numbers crunch literally every night. We're going to have to decide who's closing each half, it will probably be fluid based on how the game's going. The only way it can work is if everybody buys, everybody accepts the fact every night could be a little different."Steve Kerr
The Warriors will enter Washington on Tuesday with one player on the injury report -- young forward Gui Santos who hasn't been in the rotation regardless. This is now an incredibly pivotal point in Golden State's season, one that could prove defining in their hopes of reaching the playoffs again.