With just three games left in the regular season, the Warriors still have plenty to play for when it comes to where they’ll end up in the Western Conference standings after clinching a playoff spot.
But if you ask Draymond Green, Golden State’s ultimate playoff seeding is the least of the team’s concerns.
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“It’s not something that we’ve spoke about much,” Green told reporters after the Warriors’ 109-90 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Sunday. “I think we’ve more so spoke about playing the game the right way, doing the things that we know is going to make this team successful. But as far as the seeding, no. That’s not something that we’ve really spoken about.”
Prior to the weekend, the Warriors had dropped seven of eight games and entered Saturday’s game against the Utah Jazz looking to right the ship ahead of playoffs. They did just that with a thrilling, come-from-behind win at Chase Center followed by another win over the Kings at Golden 1 Center on Sunday.
It was the first time Golden State posted consecutive wins in three weeks and they couldn’t have come at a better time. The Warriors were at risk of falling in the West -- and still are -- as they battle without Steph Curry, who continues to rehab his left foot strain.
Still, Green isn’t as concerned with where the Warriors will end up as some might expect him to be. At the end of the day, he said, the team will have to win games at home and on the road no matter how they’re seeded in order to reach the NBA Finals.
Golden State Warriors
“Whether you're the three seed or the six seed, the way I look at it is you still have to win a road game because no one is trying to go to Game 7. We know how those go and it's a coin flip," Green told reporters Sunday. "So, you still got to win a road game. If you're the six seed, you still got to win a road game. If you're any seed, you have to play the better teams to get to The Finals. It is what it is."
As of Monday, FiveThirtyEight’s model projects the Warriors to end the season with a 52-30 record and tie the Dallas Mavericks for the West’s No. 3 seed. The Mavericks have taken three of four games in their season series with Golden State and own the tiebreaker, meaning the Dubs would drop down to the No. 4 seed should the projection pan out.
The Warriors currently hold a one-game lead over the Mavericks for the No. 3 spot and will face the Los Angeles Lakers, San Antonio Spurs and New Orleans Pelicans in their final three games of the season -- all teams with sub-.500 records.
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Ahead of Sunday’s game against the Kings, Green told his young teammates not to underestimate the struggling Sacramento team. It’s imperative the Warriors keep the same attitude heading into their final stretch before playoffs, and they’re hitting their stride at the perfect time.
“I think it’s starting to pick back up. I think you’re starting to see the defense, they had us as the No. 1 defense in the league for two and a half months. We’re getting back to that and it’s a great time to get back to that,” Green said on Sunday. “For whatever reasons we’ve had our lapses, and throughout the course of an 82-game season that happens at times. But we’re getting it back at the right time … We kind of got away from that, but that’s what this team has to be built on going into the playoffs and it’s good to see that’s starting to look how it needs to look again.”