With a 119-97 road win over a Sacramento Kings team resting most of its starters, the Golden State Warriors are mostly in control of their own destiny.
That win was absolutely necessary because the two teams trailing them — the Los Angeles Lakers and New Orleans Pelicans — won on Friday night.
The Lakers have already guaranteed a tiebreaker over the Warriors and the Pelicans will finish this season with a tiebreaker over the Warriors if they win their final game and the Warriors lose. This is what the standings look like:
Here is the remaining schedules of the teams they’re competing with.
Clippers: vs. Blazers (Saturday), at Suns (Sunday)
Warriors: At Blazers (Sunday)
Lakers: Vs. Jazz (Sunday)
Pelicans: At Timberwolves (Sunday)
Timberwolves: at Spurs (Saturday), vs. Pelicans (Sunday)
Golden State can now ignore the Timberwolves in the standings and now have a floor of the eighth seed. The only team that matters to them, if they beat the Trail Blazers, is the Clippers.
If they lose, that Timberwolves final day matchup against the Pelicans might be important for seeding. But none of that matters if they win.
Here are how the scenarios could play out over the final two days.
Fifth seed (would face Phoenix Suns)
- Warriors win. Clippers lose one or both of final two games.
- Warriors lose. Clippers lose final two games. Lakers, Pelicans lose final game.
Sixth seed (would face Sacramento Kings)
- Warriors win. Clippers win final two games.
- Warriors lose. Clippers win one of final two games. Lakers and Pelicans lose.
- Warriors lose. Clippers lose final two games. Lakers win. Pelicans lose.
- Warriors lose. Clippers lose final two games. Lakers lose. Pelicans win.
- Warriors lose. Clippers win one of final two games. Lakers lose. Pelicans win.
Seventh seed (Play-in tournament, then would face Memphis Grizzlies)
- Warriors lose. Clippers win one or both of final two games. Lakers win. Pelicans lose.
- Warriors lose. Clippers lose both of final two games. Lakers win. Pelicans win.
Eighth seed (Play-in tournament, then would face Denver Nuggets)
- Warriors lose. Clippers win final two games. Lakers win. Pelicans win.
The Warriors will be playing a Trail Blazers team on a back-to-back without the likes of Damian Lillard, Jerami Grant, Josef Nurkic and six others. That’s nine players out. A few others are questionable.
If they can’t win that, they probably don’t deserve a guaranteed playoff spot. They’d also lose a massively important week off before the playoffs, which would be invaluable as an aging team trying to work Andrew Wiggins back into the fray.
Most logic would say that the Warriors should be hoping that the Clippers win out to secure a first-round matchup against the Kings.
Phoenix has not lost this season with Kevin Durant on the court, and if Golden State is the sixth seed, they wouldn’t face each other until the West Finals. They would, however, have another semis matchup with Memphis. That’s all assuming they beat the Kings.
But that’s still weeks away, and with two days remaining in the season, a lot could change.
