Should Draymond Green, Warriors worry about the Rockets’ latest surge?
The 2023-24 NBA regular season is slowly, but surely winding down with roughly 10 games remaining for each team.
Playoff chases exist across each conference. In the Eastern Conference, there’s specifically a competitive race for the No. 6 seed–a race existing between the Indiana Pacers, Miami Heat and Philadelphia 76ers. That also exists in the West, but the race that’s percolated lately is for the fourth-and-final play-in spot.
A total of 5.5 games separated the No. 10-seeded Los Angeles Lakers and the then-No. 11-seeded Utah Jazz on March 7. Since then, the Houston Rockets–who were a half-game back of Utah on that date–have won nine straight games and have climbed within a game of the Golden State Warriors for that final spot with just over two weeks remaining.
Warriors star forward Draymond Green was asked if he was tracking the Rockets’ seeding after Sunday’s disappointing loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves; his response was how you expected Green to respond after a frustrating loss.
“I don’t give a damn about the Rockets,” Green said.
Green’s frustration after Sunday’s finish is reasonable, but should it be more concerned with Houston’s recent surge–even though it lost star center Alperen Sengun for nearly the rest of the season with a Grade 3 ankle sprain?
No team is hotter than the Rockets right now, even without arguably their best player; their last six wins have all come by double figures with an average point differential of 18.2 points, albeit against the Wizards, Cavaliers, Bulls, Jazz and Blazers. Jalen Green is averaging 29.0 points, 6.1 rebounds and 3.6 assists on 50.0 percent shooting and 43.7 percent from 3-point range over this nine-game win streak; Fred VanVleet has played like he didn’t miss any time due to injury while Amen Thompson‘s continued to blossom. This team is clicking on all cylinders.
In Golden State’s case, with Tuesday’s win over the Miami Heat, it’s winners of just four of its last 10 and five of its last 12. Both teams have 11 games remaining; Houston will have the fifth-hardest schedule, per Tankathon, including a home game against the Warriors on April 4. Golden State, meanwhile, has the fifth-easiest schedule, but will play seven of their remaining 11 away from Chase Center.
The Warriors own the tiebreaker over Houston (2-0 in head-to-head meetings), and coincidentally, both will play the Jazz and Blazers over their final three games–two teams attempting to tank. With the momentum the Rockets have built up, the Warriors shouldn’t feel safe, though they have factors that work in their favor despite being away from home.
Few–if any–players and coaches will ever admit they’re “worrying” about a team this late into the season, but I would be sweating if I was Golden State. Avoiding a monumental collapse in the dog days of March is far easier said than done, but the Warriors just can’t let go of the rope. Should they miss the playoffs, this could have a massive ripple effect for this core of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Green.
Do you think Draymond Green and Golden State should worry? Let us know in the comments!
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