Is rest the right call for Warriors’ regular-season finale?

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Is rest the right call for Warriors’ regular-season finale? originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO – With each passing win in the final week of the 2023-24 NBA regular season, the door of opportunity went from cracking with light peeking through to being swung wide open for the Warriors.

All for it to be slammed shut Friday night on their home court because of one catastrophic quarter. At least that’s how it felt after the Warriors’ 114-109 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans.

Golden State’s comeback efforts were too steep of a mountain to climb. The Warriors outscored the Pelicans by 18 points between the first, third and fourth quarters. The Pelicans enjoying a team-wide NBA Jam moment from long distance, along with the Warriors being allergic to holding onto the ball, led to a second quarter where they were outscored by 23 points, 45-22.

The loss dropped the Warriors back down to the No. 10 seed in the Western Conference going into Sunday’s regular-season finale. Which brings us to the question Steve Kerr, the rest of his coaching staff and director of sports medicine and performance Rick Celebrini must ask themselves: To rest or not to rest?

“Oh hell yeah,” Kerr said after Friday night’s loss when asked if he could rest some guys on Sunday.

The reality the Warriors now face is one where they need help from a hungry Pelicans team looking to avoid the NBA Play-In Tournament and secure their spot in the playoffs, but also a 21-win Portland Trail Blazers team that is tied for the worst record in the West.

Sunday will put an end to the regular season, and simultaneously burn the eyes and brain cells of everybody scoreboard watching and trying to figure out where each team ends up and who they’ll play next. Starting with their own situation, the Warriors play the 31-win Utah Jazz, a team that recently went through a 13-game losing streak and also has won two straight games on back-to-back days. The Warriors have to take care of business first, regardless of how everything else plays out.

And that brings us to the help they’ll need.

If the Warriors are to beat the Jazz, they’ll be…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/rest-call-warriors-regular-season-163138414.html

Author : NBC Sports BayArea

Publish date : 2024-04-13 16:31:38

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