Five bold predictions for second half of Warriors' season
Wow, it's hard to believe we're almost to the All-Star break of the 2020-21 NBA season. Time flies when you're playing basketball in a global pandemic. Or something like that.Through 32 games, the Warriors sit at 17-15. They've been, as their record would indicate, incredibly mediocre. Steph Curry has been phenomenal, playing arguably the best basketball of his career as he tries to drag the new-look Warriors to wins. Curry would be a more central figure in the MVP discussion if the Warriors could go more than two games without gagging away one they have no business losing, but that's where we stand.The Warriors currently are in eighth place in the West, and if the season ended today, they would face Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks in the play-in tournament. That doesn't sound like an enticing proposition, so the Warriors are hoping they can find more of a rhythm during the second half of the season and cruise to a top-six seed.The NBA released the second-half schedule Wednesday. So with an updated course for the Warriors to travel, I offer five bold predictions for Curry and the Warriors for the remainder of this odd campaign.
Look, what we've seen from this Warriors team so far is that they can compete with just about any team not named the Nets, but they can also lose to any team if Curry isn't clicking or the supporting cast goes missing.
I expect the second half to follow a similar script to the first. There's no doubt the Warriors are improving and learning how to win, but they aren't just going to rip off seven or eight in a row. (More on this later.)
I've have them notching wins over the Los Angeles Clippers, Philadelphia 76ers and Utah Jazz in the second half, but also getting tripped up by the Chicago Bulls, Memphis Grizzlies and Mavericks.
Is 40-32 enough to make it out of the play-in round? That comes later.
With the NBA trade deadline pushed back to March 25, the Warriors and other hopeful contenders have time to survey the landscape and see what potential piece is out there who could boost them to new heights.
Bradley Beal is staying in Washington. Kristaps Porzingis? No chance. Victor Oladipo? Pass. The Warriors will sniff around P.J. Tucker, but the price will be too high. They'll get down the road on a trade involving Kelly Oubre, but Bob Myers will back off and stick with the roster he's got.
Curry's hot streak continues in the second half and other MVP contenders begin to drop off.
The Denver Nuggets are a playoff team, but Curry zooms past Nikola Jokic. Giannis Antetokounmpo has won two MVP awards in a row and the Milwaukee Bucks continue to struggle leaving the Greek Freak on the side of the road.
Subpar performances in losses to the Bulls, Grizzlies, Nuggets and Lakers hurt Curry's case, but he eventually comes up short because an old friend finishes on a tear.
Kevin Durant and the Nets are finding out who they are with James Harden in the equation, and I expect them to pile up wins in the second half with Durant putting up impressive numbers that show he's all the way back from the ruptured Achilles he suffered in the 2019 NBA Finals.
The comeback narrative, plus the Nets earning the top seed has Durant sniping the award from LeBron James and Joel Embiid, with Curry finishing fourth as the Warriors won't be able to win enough to get him firmly over the top.
Final MVP voting:
1. Kevin Durant
2. Joel Embiid
3. LeBron James
4. Steph Curry
5. Damian Lillard
The Warriors will oscillate between wins and losses in the second half just as they have in the first. An impressive win will be followed by a heart-breaking loss.
Such is life for these Warriors.
Golden State will enter the home stretch of the season at 34-32, firmly in, you guessed it, eighth place in the Western Conference and staring at a play-in matchup with either the San Antonio Spurs, Pelicans, Nuggets or Mavericks.
But the schedule-makers gave the Warriors a gift, with six straight home games to close the season. The Warriors have a back-to-back against the Oklahoma City Thunder, then face the Utah Jazz, Phoenix Suns, New Orleans Pelicans and Grizzlies to close the season.
Not wanting any part of the play-in tournament, Curry goes thermonuclear in the final week. He eradicates the Thunder with games of 45 and 42 before dumping a 50 spot on the Jazz to get the Warriors into the No. 7 seed. A buzzer-beating win over the Suns pushes the Warriors into sixth place, and Curry makes sure to finish the deal by blasting the Pelicans for 32 and Grizzlies for 35 to send the Warriors into the playoffs.
Final West seeding:
1. Clippers
2. Jazz
3. Lakers
4. Suns
5. Blazers
6. Warriors
7. Nuggets
8. Spurs
9. Mavs
10. Pelicans
Steph's heroics put the Warriors into the playoffs but ...
The defending champion Lakers are going to be careful with Anthony Davis, knowing that seeding holds little importance for them when fully healthy.
So LeBron James and Co. coast to the No. 3 seed and have James' old rival Curry and the Warriors waiting for them in the first round.
The Lakers strike first with a blowout win in Game 1, and Davis' 38 points carry them to a Game 2 win. But Curry won't go without a fight as he scores 45 in a Game 3 win and his late-game 3-pointer in Game 4 notches the series at two games apiece.
But James and the Lakers win the next two games convincingly with James outdueling Curry in Game 6 to send the Warriors into the offseason with Klay Thompson's return beckoning on the horizon.
