The Warriors obviously did not have the season they were hoping to, and for a little over three quarters on Wednesday night in Los Angeles, it looked like Stephen Curry and company were headed for the offseason. Then Curry and Golden State’s aging core of Draymond Green, Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford dug in to comeback from a double digit deficit and knock off the Clippers in thrilling fashion.
The Warriors head to Phoenix on Friday night to play another do-or-die game for the 8-seed in the Western Conference, with the winner heading to Oklahoma City for Game 1 on Sunday. The Suns are off a loss to the Trail Blazers on Tuesday that looked very similar to how the Clippers fell apart a night later — Phoenix led by double digits about halfway through the fourth quarter before coming completely undone.
After a hot start to the season, the Suns haven’t been playing their best basketball recently. They are just 6-11 over their last 17 games, and went 1-3 against the Warriors this season. The win did come at home, but was way back in December by a single point. Meanwhile, we don’t really have a ton to go on with the Warriors. Curry just returned from a long absence, Green has missed time throughout the season, as had Horford. Jimmy Butler went down mid-season, and Jonathan Kuminga and Buddy Hield were swapped for Porzingis. Other key rotational pieces have also shuffled around throughout the season.
Long story short, Wednesday night in Los Angeles is practically the only thing we have to go on as for what the Warriors currently look like at full strength. I like what I saw. If we move over to the X’s and O’s, I believe Golden State will be able to exploit some matchups. Porzingis and Horford will be able to pull Mark Williams away from the rim, and knock down 3-pointers like they did agains the Clippers, or find teammates in an open paint. Dillon Brooks is likely to assume some of the roll of attempting to limit Curry. While they may go well for him early, Brooks can tend to get a bit more physical as the game goes on. The Warriors were masterful with getting Brook Lopez in switches down the stretch on Wednesday, and should look to do that again.
I was skeptical of what to expect heading into a matchup against the Clippers, who owned the third-best record in the Western Conference since Christmas. But Golden State proved itself against a real team and showed it can put it all together when it needs to. I trust the Warriors to be able to do that again in a matchup against a spiraling Suns squad on Friday night.
NBA Pick: Warriors +3.5 (-110)
