The Golden State Warriors have won 16 of their last 20 games, but they have not been playing so well lately and bit them on Saturday what Draymond Green called a “terrible loss” in Atlanta.
The Warriors, who were playing without Stephen Curry, went down for 17 after the first quarter and could never fight in a 124-115 defeat that was not as close as that score indicates.
The curry is marginalized with a pelvic contusion After taking a tough fall in his cojón in the victory of three points of Golden State over the Raptors on Thursday. In the last four Golden State games, there has only been a good performance: a victory over the Bucks without Curry, who at that time was out of regular rest.
Apart from that, they put an egg against the Nuggets, who played without Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and Christian Braun, and surpassed a bad team from Toronto before the defeat against the Hawks (which, to be fair, have been playing better with six victories in their last eight games).
“It’s a bad loss. A terrible loss,” Green said. “When you are in a position where you have the opportunity to compete for something, eleven games left with everything to play, you should not have a loss like this. There is too much at stake. You have to win the games that you are supposed to win. Obviously, Steph is out, but that is still a game that we should win.”
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Brad Botkin
Green is right. The Warriors have exactly 11 games, and with the loss of Saturday they have now effectively fallen into the game. Yes, if you look at the classification on Sunday morning, you will see the name of Golden State at number 6, just above the clippers, but that is just because the Warriors have played one more game. The equipment is tied in the loss column and the clippers have the tiebreaker, which means that they control their destination for the last place in the playoffs, not the Warriors, which also have only one advantage of a game over the No. 8 minnesota.
This is how every great game is at this point, and although the following three seem to be victories on paper (everything on the road against Miami, New Orleans and San Antonio), it cannot be taken for granted without curry.
There was a theory after Curry’s injury that a small time of inactivity could be a blessing disguised as the Warriors superstar, since maybe I could refresh it when entering the playoffs. But first they have to reach the playoffs, and they simply did not give space for an error with the way they played before acquiring Jimmy Butler on the deadline for exchange, when they clung to the final game place. They need curry back.
He is ready for reevaluation on Monday before the game of Golden State in Miami, which will be Butler’s first game against the Heat after his dramatic departure. Heat has lost 10 in a row, but you can bet that they will be prepared for that. The warriors will also be better.
