Kawakami: Good Warriors karma, good road vibes and a real goal – get to OKC and scare the Thunder

SAN FRANCISCO – Three more wins. If you’re looking for a well-timed target for the Golden State Warriors’ lackluster season, I’ve got a simple one right here.

Count them down: Beat the Kings in Sacramento on Tuesday, just as the Warriors were eliminated in a do-or-die Game 7 in the first round last season; then return to the road and advance to the first round by tying the loser of a 7-8 game between the New Orleans Pelicans and the Los Angeles Lakers; and finally, the Warriors can end the season with respect by winning at least one game and maybe putting a little fear into the 1 seed Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round.

If the veteran, proven Warriors can call upon some of the old, good things a few more times over the next few weeks, wouldn’t that be proof enough that it’s worth keeping a large part of this core together for one more goal. break the season? I think so.

But if the Warriors don’t go all the way deep in the first round, if they look too old to pull off anything significant … that’s going to fall short of qualifying for a solid finish, IMO, and I don’t. I think the team’s front office and accountants will disagree.

Does that sound right? Obviously, the Warriors want to win their fifth championship of this era and will not be happy if they are stopped anywhere over the next few weeks. But the Warriors’ path as a 10-seed in the Western Conference is set to be pretty grim because, well, nine teams finished ahead of them and they deserve an easy path. We can judge the Warriors for the slips and issues that have led them to this fate, and it all adds up to a conclusion that will come this summer.

But what about now? What do the Warriors need to do to show that there is still enough life and talent around Stephen Curry to base this roster with a payroll within the luxury tax?

Three more wins, that’s what I say. Fight your way to the first round. Go to OKC. Get the game. Maybe even two. (Note: The Curry Warriors have won at least two games in all 29 of their playoff streak.) Then watch what happens.

And while Curry and the rest of the Warriors are rightly determined to stay in the moment and focus heavily on the next game, I think the leaders of this team agree on this big-picture level.

“I don’t really care about this ‘next season’ talk,” Curry said before the Warriors traveled to Sacramento on Monday; but he continued with an additional attitude. “I think it’s obviously going to be a shame if we’re not in the playoffs and have the opportunity to compete at that level. You can make whatever narrative that brings.”

When this season of the Warriors ends, however it ends, it will be judged in the context of everything that has happened before and everything that should apply to the future.

It will be viewed in light of the last remaining Warriors dynasty and counted on the belief that Curry probably has at least one more good season left in him. But also, there’s an understanding that Warriors owner Joe Lacob can’t maintain a record-setting $400 million payroll next season without the real sense that a deep run is possible after next season. The best way to prove it? By making a good run in the postseason – and adding a little bit of home playoff box office revenue. (Reminder: The Warriors’ total revenue from early home dates is about $7 million per game.)

A good run could solidify Andrew Wiggins’ spot on the roster next season after a very sluggish start to the season. It could make Lacob more suitable to pay Klay Thompson’s free-agent rate this summer. It can soothe the bitter feelings of lost time and lost games when Draymond Green was suspended twice. It could lead to the Warriors bringing back Chris Paul or trading his contract for more talent, instead of just letting him go in free agency to reduce payroll.

Many things are changing. Much has been made of the Warriors’ big second-half run after a 19-24 start, but a 10th-place finish and a quick exit from the Playoffs wouldn’t be the smoothest way to enter the offseason.

For now, however, head coach Steve Kerr is either feeling true playoff calm or trying to say it exists. Warriors have been here before. They have been at their best, but they have also been at their worst – especially after last season and in the first part of this season.

“One of the things I’ve been really happy about in the second half is the sense of comfort and peace that everyone seems to have,” Kerr said Monday. “I think Draymond and Klay are in a better place than they were at the beginning of the season. And that’s important. That affects other people. So I think this team has good chemistry. Draymond has been a good mentor to the guys in the second half of the year. Wiggs is in a good place. very much.

“So it’s not just in our record, in our offensive and defensive levels. It’s the vibe. And it’s a good vibe. Obviously, we’re in a tough time, we have to win two games just to get into the playoffs. Anything can happen. But I really believe in this group.

“I believe in karma. I think this group has got good karma. So we’ll see what happens here.”

As Kerr noted later, the Warriors didn’t have the best karma last season but still managed to pull off that Game 7 victory over the Kings, largely due, of course, to Curry’s 50-point performance. And the game was damaging. big – winning that series combined with the Lakers playing well in the ensuing second round loss was enough to convince Warriors management to put things together. In fact, the Warriors’ biggest move was getting older, not younger, by trading Jordan Poole for CP3.

The next few games will have ripple effects, too. These big games do it all the time.

“I think in terms of hope and confidence in who we are and what we can do on any given night, you have to maintain that, you have to believe,” Curry said. “I think we do that. It comes down to one game, and then one game, and then hopefully more. But we understand what it’s like in this type of environment, the must-win situation, the history of last year with Sacramento. The vibes are, ‘Go win a basketball game;’ we know we can do it.”

It’s a strange situation: The Warriors’ poor home record (21-20) this season sent them to 10th place and given them this brutal path, but their strong 25-16 road record gives them hope that they can make it. of this area.

Oh, and also, yes, the Warriors have a 39-27 postseason road record in the Kerr era (not counting Play-In games). Counting their 7-8 play-in elimination loss to the Lakers in 2021, the Warriors are 39-28 on the road in postseason games. That’s an incredible number.

But their famous road streak ended in the Lakers series after last season; during Curry’s tenure, the Warriors had won at least one game on the road in 28 straight playoff series, from the two years before Kerr’s arrival until the Warriors went 0-3 in LA in the series last May. (Prior to the Game 6 sweep, the Warriors were an incredible 4-0 in road sweeps in the Kerr era. Yes, every Warriors loss prior to last year’s Lakers sweep at home.)

They have tablets on the wall. They’ve played well to close this season, even in the post-All-Star break frenzy of 29 games (16 on the road) in the final 52 days of the regular season, which was due to games that had to be played. was reorganized after the tragic death of assistant coach Dejan Milojević in January. They played themselves in this next challenge, both away if they are good enough to go on to win.

“Our last eight weeks have really prepared us,” Draymond said Sunday. “We’ve been on the road for the last month and a half, two months, very little.

“We’ve been very successful on the road all year. So, know that we can go and win some road games. And when this team’s back is against the wall, I like the way the group comes out. It’s not the best, but it is what it is. We want to keep playing for a long time.” in this season.”

Draymond, Curry and the rest can never say that the goal is to win three more games and head into the postseason. That is certainly not their goal. They want to win every game and hold their fifth parade later. But their goal was never to be a 10 seed, either. Here they are, though, with another bullet doing some special things. If they get three more wins, then fall out of the playoffs, the Warriors will fall short of what they were but do justice to what they have left and what can be expected for one more run next season.

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(Top photo of Stephen Curry: Amanda Loman/Getty Images)