Jazz or Nuggets? Warriors taking right approach to seeding originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
SAN ANTONIO — Steve Kerr joked ahead of the Warriors’ win Thursday against the Los Angeles Lakers that if it were up to him, the Warriors would face Wichita State in the first round of the NBA playoffs — a nod to Wichita native and Warriors senior vice president of communications Raymond Ridder.
Kerr is well aware the Warriors are looking at either the Utah Jazz or the Denver Nuggets to begin their postseason run after a two-year absence. He also maintains the same feeling that the Warriors already have accomplished their first goal, regardless of who their first playoff opponent is.
“The main thing is we’ve clinched homecourt for the first round, which is a big deal,” Kerr said. “Our scouts and video guys are already putting together reports and we’ll just continue to worry about ourselves for now, and we’ll be very well prepared the minute we find out who our opponent is and we’ll dive right in at that point.”
The Warriors enter Saturday night’s game against the Spurs in San Antonio with a half-game lead ahead of the Dallas Mavericks for the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference, with two games to go. But the Mavs hold the tiebreaker over the Warriors after beating them three out of four times this season. They also will be without their top player in their season finale thanks to Luka Doncic receiving his 16th technical foul in Dallas’ win Friday against the Portland Trail Blazers.
That could be huge news for Golden State as the Warriors look to win their final two games, securing the highest seed possible before the playoffs.
Klay Thompson, who usually sits the second game of a back-to-back, will not suit up against the Spurs. He’s the only player listed on the Warriors’ injury report, meaning he’s slated to play Sunday in New Orleans but the Warriors likely will be without Andre Iguodala and Otto Porter Jr. against the Pelicans.
Instead of seeking out a certain team to play in the first round, the Warriors are continuing to put health first and are more than happy to have homecourt advantage at Chase Center. They’re not trying to manipulate the system. They’re just trying to play their best basketball after a whirlwind of a season that featured more bumps than freshly-paved roads.
Which is exactly what their focus should be.
“It’s a league of just that basketball energy — you talk about the basketball Gods, that karma, playing with good karmic ways,” Andre Iguodala said Thursday after the Warriors’ win. “You can’t try to maneuver or scheme your way to advancing further and further, and I think that’s how we’re approaching it.
“We just have to be playing good basketball and we have to get our winning ways … like even if you lose in this league, if you play the right way — where you’re supposed to go, you’ll eventually get there.”
After yet another epic collapse, this time to the hands of the Phoenix Suns, the Jazz certainly look like the more favorable matchup for the Warriors compared to the Nuggets. That also could mean falling down to the No. 4 seed and having to face Phoenix, the best team in basketball, as soon as the second round.
In their four regular-season games, the Warriors beat the Jazz three times. Utah is a team with internal conflicts and Kerr will be frothing at the mouth if Jazz center Rudy Gobert plays the same sagging defense that he did one week ago against Golden State. All that did was lead to 36 points for Klay, including 24 in the second half.
It’s not like the Warriors have had a ton of success against Denver this season. They lost three out of four to them, including a last-second heartbreaker. Nikola Jokic is breaking the record books and having another MVP season. He mostly has been a one-man show, and if the Nuggets do get Jamal Murray or Michael Porter Jr. back for the playoffs, they both would be returning off long layoffs and serious injuries. A series with the Nuggets, as of now, would mean a date with the Memphis Grizzlies in the second round, a young and hungry team that also beat the Warriors three out of four times this season.
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The Warriors have seen a handful of highs and lows this season. They already earned homecourt advantage to start the playoffs, and now eye two other goals to finish the regular season: Health and a five-game win streak.
Seedings be damned, the Warriors need to play their most complete brand of basketball before the postseason starts up — just in time for Steph Curry to come back.
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