At 54-20, the Golden State Warriors currently sit 6.5 games
back of the top seeded Houston Rockets in the Western Conference standings.
While still having a really good regular season, the Warriors are not a slam
dunk to come out of the Western Conference for a fourth consecutive season.
There are two main reasons for this. The first being that the Rockets are
really good. The second being that they are dealing with a lot of injuries.
I recently wrote about the Rockets and why they are dangerous, so I will
address the latter in this article, focusing on the Warriors’ injury woes.
At the moment, the Warriors’ injury report reads as follows:
Stephen Curry is out 3+ weeks due to
a Grade 2 MCL sprain in his left knee; Klay
Thompson has missed seven games due to a sprained right thumb and is likely
out through the rest of the week at least; Draymond
Green has missed three games due to a pelvic contusion and is listed as
day-to-day; and Kevin Durant has
missed six straight games due to a rib fracture, though he is hopeful to return
on Thursday against the Milwaukee Bucks.
While it is certainly possible that the Warriors heal up in
time for the playoffs and overcome these injuries, what has to concern them is
the sheer number of games that they’ve played over the past few seasons. The
hardest part about reaching four straight NBA Finals is overcoming the sheer
volume of games that is required to do so. Playing over 100 NBA games in one
season takes a tremendous toll on the bodies of these players. To try to do
that four times in a row is insane. The Warriors are starting to show signs of breaking
down and it seems to be due to all the games that they have played.
The most troublesome injury is definitely Curry’s MCL
sprain. He’s out for at least 3 weeks and possibly more pending on how his knee
looks upon reevaluation. Given the nature of his injury, it’s no guarantee he
returns at all this season and that has to worry the Warriors a great deal.
Even if he is able to return, there’s no guarantee that he’ll be able to be
close to full strength. Curry is the heart and soul of this Warriors team.
Without him, it’s really hard to see the Warriors repeating as NBA champions.
As for how concerned the Warriors should be, if I were going
on a scale of 1-10 with 1 being not concerned at all and 10 being full blown
panic, I would say their level of concern should be at a 7. Winning a
championship is just as much about surviving the grind of an NBA schedule as it
is about being the best team. The grind appears to be catching up with the
Warriors and with 24+ games to go in the season, their chances of surviving it
for another year look dicey.
To connect with NBA Lord on Twitter, click here.
To connect with NBA Lord on Facebook, click here.
To connect with NBA Lord on Google Plus, click here.
No comments:
Post a Comment