The Golden State Warriors are clinging to the 10th and final postseason spot in the Western Conference after their blowout loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night, and Steve Kerr wants to see more urgency from his team.
The Warriors fell to 31-31 on the season with the 133-103 home loss. They are now four games ahead of the 11th-place New Orleans Pelicans with 10 games remaining, so it would take a real disaster for them to miss the play-in tournament. However, Kerr wants too see his players treat the next 10 games like the playoffs.
Steve Kerr: "I told our team this morning, 'The playoffs start now.' These next 10 games are the playoffs, in my mind." The goal right now is to get the seven spot.
— Connor Letourneau (@Con_Chron) April 28, 2021
The top six teams in each conference are guaranteed a playoff spot this year, while Nos. 7-10 will take part in the play-in tournament. The No. 7 seed will host the No. 8 seed in the first play-in game, and the winner of that game gets into the playoffs. The loser plays the winner of the No. 9 vs. No. 10 matchup, with the winner of that game earning the final playoff spot in the conference.
Golden State entered Thursday 3.5 games behind the No. 6 seed Dallas Mavericks and 3 games behind the No. 7 seed Portland Trail Blazers. As far as the play-in tournament goes, earning the No. 7 seed clearly carries an advantage, as that team would host a game and only have to win that game to get into the playoffs. Even if that team lost, they would still have another shot to beat the winner of the No. 9 vs. No. 10 game.
Between what Kerr said and the remarks Stephen Curry made after Wednesday’s loss, it would be a surprise if the Warriors didn’t come out with a little extra motivation in their next game.
