The Golden State Warriors are in a weird spot right now as they are banged up and without their best player in Stephen Curry. Still, they deserve a ton of credit for fighting hard and refusing to give in. Over the last two games they have proven to both themselves and the NBA that tanking would be foolish.
On Thursday night against the Houston Rockets, the undermanned Warriors were able to pull out a gutsy victory in overtime. Literally no one was giving Golden State much of a chance to win the game, and yet they came out and played hard with head coach Steve Kerr pushing all the right buttons.Â
The Warriors may not have then come out on top on Saturday night against the Oklahoma City Thunder, but they did make the reigning NBA champions sweat and had the chance to take the lead in the final 90 seconds.
Warriors are fighting hard and showing they will not quit on this season
No one can seriously claim this Warriors team is capable of winning a title or even making a deep run in the playoffs. But sports are about entertainment and Golden State are proving they can still be entertaining this season.
As of right now, the Warriors are virtually locked into the Play-In. They cannot tank hard enough to fall into the No. 11 seed in the standings, and they almost certainly cannot get to the No. 6 seed which could guarantee them a playoff series.
They’re going to have to play at least one, potentially two, Play-In games if they want a series and they are proving right now that on any given night, they can still be competitive enough to win. If they are putting up solid showings without Stephen Curry and with other key players banged up, then it stands to reason that if the 2x MVP can get healthier and get back on the court they have a chance against these teams.
Curry is still one of the best players in the game. Even if it may be tempting to shut him down the rest of the season, if he's healthy he's going to want to play. Perhaps he can go out and throw down an epic performance in a Play-In game, and given we don’t know how much longer Curry has left, that could be one of the last shining moments in his career.
This season has been a disappointment for Golden State thus far, but that is not an excuse to throw in the towel. The Warriors are continuing to battle and they should continue to do so the rest of the season.