The 20-20 Golden State Warriors have been plainly average this season. They have struggled to string together wins, and their offense, apart from Stephen Curry, often looks stale. Their defense, while it has been a bright spot for the team this season, continues to struggle when it matters most.
However, having coming off an anxiety-inducing 116-115 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Warriors now have an opportunity to turn their season around quickly. Nine of their next 10 games take place in California, with the only games outside Chase Center taking place in Sacramento and Utah.
Such an extensive home-stand could provide a sense of comfort and rhythm for a team that seems to have found neither this season, particularly over an expanded 25-game stretch where they've won just eight games.
Can the Warriors climb back into the playoff race?
Golden State currently sit at the 11th seed in the Western Conference and certainly have hopes of being more than a fringe playoff team. The move to bring in Dennis Schröder from the Brooklyn Nets, while it has not necessarily panned out as hoped, provides evidence of this.
After a tough four game home-stand that featured a rough loss to the lowly Toronto Raptors, the Warriors now have a chance to turn their recent fortunes around. Although they are currently the 11th seed, they only sit 2.5 games from the sixth-seed Lakers, meaning a stretch of five or six wins could easily close that gap as many of the teams outside the top five in the standings have faced equally significant struggles recently.
If the Warriors were to go 7-3 through their next 10 games, they would essentially raise themselves back into the playoff mix before the All-Star Game -- a major accomplishment for a team who has struggled heavily since December.
Seven wins will be no easy feat. The Warriors haven't won three games in a row since the middle of November, and have won two or more in a row only five times this season. Couple this with tough matchups against the Boston Celtics (on national television), the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Paolo Banchero-led Orlando Magic, and the prospects of the Warriors reversing their fate in this stretch seems bleak.
However, the rest of their matchups, against the Wizards, Kings, Bulls, Lakers, Suns, and Jazz (twice), have a combined winning percentage of .402. Games against the Wizards and Jazz, bottom-feeders in their respective conference, will be especially vital. The Warriors could theoretically afford to lose to Boston, Orlando and OKC while still managing to gain momentum in the playoff race during this home-stand.
While you certainly can't take anything for granted with this Warriors team, a home matchup against the Wizards, who have lost seven straight, should result in a win. The larger test will come Monday against the Celtics who have struggled as of late. In their last seven games, the Celtics are in the bottom half of the league in offensive rating, defensive rating, points per game and three-point percentage.
A win over the Celtics would be a massive confidence boost for the Warriors and could set the tone for the rest of this vital 10-game period.