The Golden State Warriors ket themselves above the Play-In Tournament positions with two huge wins on Thursday and Friday, having beaten the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets to remain fifth in the Western Conference standings.
There remains all to play for over the final week of the season, with anywhere between third and eighth still possible for the Warriors who have now won 21 of their 26 games since the blockbuster acquisition of Jimmy Butler.
Golden State must avoid the Play-In Tournament and a potential nightmare matchup
The Warriors know just how dangerous the Play-In Tournament can be, having been eliminated after back-to-back losses in 2021 despite finishing the regular season as the eight-seed. There is currently a huge gap (7.5 games to be exact) between the eighth-seed Memphis Grizzlies and ninth-seed Dallas Mavericks, but that doesn't particularly paint a picture of how dangerous those lower-ranked teams could be.
Three teams -- the Kings, Dallas Mavericks and Phoenix Suns -- are currently battling for the ninth and 10th spots, having each faced significant issues over the second-half of the season. The Mavericks are half a game ahead of the Kings, while they're two games ahead of the pacific rival Suns.
As unfair as it may seem given the gap between the top eight and the next three, there will be a one-off elimination game between one team from each group. There's plenty of reasons for Golden State to avoid the Play-In Tournament, but one of them is to ensure they don't face an awkward elimination matchup against the Mavericks.
Dallas have been completely ravaged by injury over recent months, not to mention their own self-inflicted wound of having stunningly traded Luka Doncic to the Lakers. The Mavericks are just 8-14 since the All-Star break and rank 24th in net rating during the same period -- not numbers that scream danger come the postseason.
However, Anthony Davis has just returned from injury and Dallas have won four of their five games he's played in since March 24. The former Lakers star had 34 points, 15 rebounds and five blocks against the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday, suggesting he's still capable of huge performances that could prove dangerous in an elimination game.
A healthy Davis was dominant in Warriors-Lakers games prior to the trade, with the 10x All-Star averaging 32.8 points and 12.3 rebounds in his last four non-injury impacted games against Golden State.
Then you have the Klay Thompson factor. Another meeting against the Warrior legend in an elimination game would add another layer of interest, particularly given the 5x All-Star would want to respond from his last Play-In Tournament game where he went scoreless and shot 0-of-10 against the Kings last season -- his final game for Golden State.
The fortunes of the respective teams couldn't have been much different since the All-Star break, but an elimination game against Davis, Thompson and the Mavericks is still not a position the Warriors want to find themselves in.