On any given night the Golden State Warriors can beat the elite teams in the NBA—the existence of Stephen Curry should strike fear into the hearts of any potential opponent.
At the same time, the Warriors are now seventh in the Western Conference after dropping a game to the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday night, and must now hope they can move into a position where they can avoid the play-in tournament.
The good news is that they are only a game out of the fourth position which would afford them homecourt advantage in the first round. The bad news, as Brian Windhorst explained on First Take Thursday, is that the long-term plan involves going small. Very small.
"Clearly the Warriors are flawed, look what happened last night," Windhorst said after agreeing that seeds 2 through 8 in the West will all have their warts. "But the way the Warriors are going to try to pull this off, they're going to try to play with a very small lineup. And I just think what you're going to ask this team to do to make a long playoff run ... what you're going to ask Draymond Green to do—guard bigger players, play with a lot of energy—I think it's going to be energy-sapping for them."
"Clearly the Warriors are flawed, look what happened last night." 😬 @WindhorstESPN on how Golden State's 114-111 loss to the Spurs could affect their playoff fate in the West 👀 pic.twitter.com/AaeWXoOwzV
— First Take (@FirstTake) April 10, 2025
Windhorst suggested that Golden State should be doing the opposite and taking the load off those veteran players instead, but that is not really a viable option right now as their seeding is still very much up in the air.
The Warriors' situation is not much different than the Los Angeles Lakers—another team full of aging stars—but the difference is that L.A. has been winning and shoring up their position in the playoff hunt, and now sit comfortably in the No. 3 seed.
Fair points for sure. Then again, the moment Curry starts draining threes, a lot of conventional wisdom goes out the window.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Brian Windhorst Explains Why 'Flawed' Warriors' Could Lose Energy.
