“They are not officially dead, they might be in coma” – Ric Bucher equates Golden State Warriors’ playoff chances to LA Lakers’ playoff odds
Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors' quest to go back-to-back in the NBA Finals hasn't been going according to plan. After the trio of Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green won its fourth title, the future was bright heading into training camp.
Then came the infamous Draymond Green-Jordan Poole scuffle in which Green punched his teammate square in the face. At the time, the future of the Warriors' Big Three was put in jeopardy. Green was heading into the final year of his contract before deciding whether to opt in or out.
Although the team said it put the situation behind and Poole wound up getting the extension that was expected, their troubles weren't behind them. Steph Curry missed time in late December and early January as the team continued to struggle on the road.
After playing in just seven games, Curry missed most of the month of February before making his return on March 5. With the Warriors (34-33) in sixth place in the West, many are wondering whether or not they'll fall in the standings. On "First Things First," NBA analyst Ric Bucher shut down that talk:
"They are not officially dead. They might be on life support or might be in a coma, but if your Lakers have a chance of making some noise, the same thing can be said about the Golden State Warriors, because the Lakers are pretty much a .500 team and have told us that they were that or worse for the better part of the season.
"I like the Lakers' chances more than I like the Golden State Warriors', but the reason that everybody's hanging on to the 'Warriors could still be a threat' in spite of what we've seen is because we saw the exact same thing last year from January on. They were a .500 team. The distinction is they demonstrated early on what they were capable of."
You can view his comments above beginning after the 4-minute mark.
The remainder of the Golden State Warriors' season
With the Golden State Warriors having just 15 games remaining on their schedule, they will need to be at their best if they hope to fight off the play-in tournament.
They are tied with the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Dallas Mavericks for sixth place with a 34-33 record.
Per Tankathon's strength-of-schedule calculator, the Warriors are in the top 10 for toughest remaining schedules. Over the next few weeks, they will face off with some of the best teams in the league, including the Milwaukee Bucks, Denver Nuggets and Sacramento Kings.
This weekend will see the Warriors face the Bucks before they take on the Phoenix Suns, LA Clippers, Atlanta Hawks and Memphis Grizzlies next week. As they look to snap a three-game losing streak, it will be interesting to see how they respond to their 131-110 loss to the Grizzlies on Thursday.
If the Warriors have shown us one thing in recent years, it's that if they're healthy, they cannot be counted out.
Below you can view highlights from their recent loss to the Grizzlies.