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The Golden State Warriors sit in 10th place in the Western Conference and have spent most of this season struggling to keep their heads above water, but Steve Kerr isn’t giving up on his team.
“The season is truly a marathon,” Kerr said. Anthony Slater from The Athletic. “At any point in the season, you get 10 wins in a row and that counts. It doesn’t matter if it’s at the beginning or the end. I still have no doubt that this team can go for it and have a good match. push.”
If last season is any indication, Kerr would be smart to keep the faith. The Conference Finals featured two teams participating in the Play-In tournament (Miami Heat, Los Angeles Lakers), and the Heat ended up reaching the NBA Finals before losing to the Denver Nuggets.
The gap between the haves and have-nots in the NBA has arguably never been smaller. Golden State is just 11.5 games behind top-seeded Denver and just five games behind the No. 5 seed.
“Yeah, it’s intimidating,” Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski said. “Just for the fact that you don’t want to be the 10th seed. The 11th seed is, I think, four or five games behind us. So for us to get to that low, I don’t think it’s going to happen .But you don’t want to be the 10th seed and have to play two games on the road before getting into a real series.”
The Warriors have a veteran-laden group led by Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, all of whom would like to add a fifth championship to their mantle and further solidify their dynasty.
If they can pull this off as a play-in team, it would make for an incredible story.
