The Warriors lose No. 3 seed to Dallas (for now) – Can they hold on to home court advantage?
SAN FRANCISCO — The Warriors woke up Wednesday with an opportunity to officially clinch a playoff spot. They end the day having lost their No. 3 seed in peril of slipping further down the Western Conference.
The surging Dallas Mavericks usurped the Warriors’ three-seed and the Denver Nuggets and Utah Jazz are well within reach of pulling the Warriors into the fifth seed.
After Wednesday’s games, the Warriors and Mavericks are both 48-29; Dallas has the tiebreaker advantage with a 3-1 head-to-head record against Golden State this year. The No. 5 Nuggets (46-31) are two games back and the No. 6 Jazz (45-31) are 2.5 games back of the Warriors’ new No. 4 seed spot.
Could the Warriors slip into a sixth seed? Unlikely, but possible. At stake in the Warriors’ final five games — potentially all without Steph Curry — is home court advantage. Should they slip into the five seed, Golden State could be hitting the road and lose the Chase Center advantage to begin the playoff’s first round on April 16.
The Warriors can still climb back into the No. 3 seed spot and certainly clinch home-court advantage in their five remaining regular season games, but their fellow contenders will make it tricky.
Dallas has won three straight and seven of their last 10 games. Luka Doncic is fueling that roll, propping himself strongly into the MVP conversation while averaging 30 points, nine rebounds and eight assists per game in March alongside a Mavericks team that seems to have solidified their identity.
The Nuggets and Jazz pose aren’t far behind, but trending in opposite directions. Denver has won three straight and six of their last 10 games with MVP candidate Nikola Jokic averaging 30 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists in 15 games this month.
The Jazz are slipping, losers of five straight and six of their last 10 games. Utah stars Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert sounded exasperated with their team’s effort after their latest loss on Tuesday, a 25-point blown lead to the Clippers.
“We don’t get our hands dirty. We never get our hands dirty,” Gobert told reporters.
Added Mitchell: ” I don’t know what to say. This is the same (expletive). This is literally the same thing as last year.”
Though hot on their heels in the standings, the slumping Jazz may welcome sight for the Warriors in their upcoming match-up on Saturday.
The Warriors weren’t preoccupied by seeding after their 107-103 loss to the top-seeded Phoenix Suns on Wednesday. Instead, they celebrated a few moral victories won in their fourth straight loss.
For the first time in weeks, they played high-intensity defense and fought blow-for-blow with a contender. Draymond Green played his best game since his return from injury, a shift he said happened when he decided to communicate more on defense.
Head coach Steve Kerr noted that Green took a step physically, too.
“It looked to me like he was a step quicker to the ball and a step quicker to his rotations,” Kerr said. “It looked like he turned the corner physically and that was a great sign.”
With Andre Iguodala’s impact as a point forward and handsy defender and Jordan Poole’s career-tying high 38-point night, the Warriors played a cohesive, sharp and intense style of basketball on Wednesday that they’d lost touch with over the last month-plus. If the Warriors hope to pump the breaks on a standings tumble, they’ll have to pull those threads from the loss.
“We don’t do moral victories around here,” Green said. “But I think we found ourselves tonight.”