Showdown in Little Roar-acle

By ShavedAsian:

And here we are, more than 24 hours before the biggest game of the season… With four games left, this is a MUST MUST WIN for the Warriors. If they win this game, they’re in the driver’s seat.

The Dubs need to finish one game ahead of the Nuggets in the standings since the Nuggets hold the tie-breaker. If we win tomorrow, we are a game up on Denver.  And I expect them to win two of the last three games of the season, against the Clips and Sonics.  If the Warriors win two of three, then Denver will need to go 3-0 to get into the Playoffs.  Since the Nuggets play both the Rockets and the Jazz, this will be a tough task.  But, if the Warriors lose tomorrow, they would need to go 3-0 for the rest of the season (against the Clips, Suns, and Sonics) and pray that Denver goes 1-2 (Utah, Houston, Memphis). Now, that isn’t impossible but with the unpredictable play from both teams, you don’t want to count on a Denver loss.

The Warriors have lost all three of the previous Must Win games (Denver, Dallas, New Orleans) up to this point. However, what makes tomorrow’s game different is that this is a home game. This should make us the favorite, right? I mean, we are a great home team, have loud and intellectual fans(when they’re not doing The Wave during critical moments of a game), and Denver is a lousy away team… But being a Warriors fan for such a long time has naturally turned me into a pessimist. This is what bothers me:

1. Over their last ten games against the Top 8 teams in the Western Conference, the Warriors are 2-8, the only wins coming from the Gasol/Bynum-less Lakers, and the Dirk/Stackhouse-less Mavericks.


2. What genius scheduled a Western Conference game at 5PM?!?! This will certainly affect the home court advantage. Most people do not work 5-2, 6-3, or 7-4 shifts. I remember last year in the Western Conference Semi-Finals against the Jazz, Game 3 started at 6PM. For the first quarter, the lower bowl seats were about half to 2/3 full. And that was for a Playoff game! What makes our arena so valuable is that our team feeds from the energy of the fans. Will the Warriors feed off of a half-full stadium for much of, if not all, of first half? Heck, if this were a Laker game at Staples, fans would be filtering in until the game ended.


3. Our defense has been lousy. We allowed 132 points to the Kings last night, and this was without Brad Miller or Ron Artest playing. The only time we beat Denver this year was when we made an effort to play defense. The other games, where we tried to outrun/outscore them, ended in losses. Hopefully, the return of Pietrus should cause some problems for Carmelo, and Baron can bottle up AI.

I hope we win tomorrow, so I don’t have to make a “Scenario Generator” for the remaining three games. Some sort of makeshift flow chart on how the Warriors can get to the Playoffs (my God, I SO see this coming). But even if we lose tomorrow, and end up not making the Playoffs, I am satisfied with what has been a very entertaining season…. who am I kidding…they better WIN!!