March 17, 2023 • 16 mins
Sarah talks with NBA.com senior writer Mark Medina about the playoff picture in the Western Conference, including the red-hot Kings, Ja Morant and Grizzlies latest news, LeBron and Lakers Updates and the Warriors struggle to stay out of the Play-In games.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcoming into NBA Pulsi production of iHeartRadio in the NBA.
I'm Sarah Kustack, NBA analysts for the S Network. In
Today is Friday, March seventeenth. Happy Saint Patrick's Day. From
our incredible core group of NBA journalists. We're joined now
by NBA dot Com senior writer Mark mcdina. Mark, thanks
for being here with us. Happy, happy Friday, Happy good
(00:23):
luck day. Yeah, Sarah, right back at you. Happy. I
think for many people, maybe not happy, but sad bracket
busting day after only one day of the NAD quick yeah,
and at least for me, I don't know what's more
of a jumble mess the bracket or you know, these
NBA standings in the playoff races. But I think the
good thing for the NBA is unlike a lot of
(00:45):
people who participate in the bracket like myself, everyone still
has a chance here. Um so yeah, the last month,
fun month of the NBA season to see all this
a little bit more runway, A new set of market
has It's been tremendous to watch. It can to you
looking at these standings in particular Western Conference has been
something that you know, I think throughout the course of it.
(01:07):
Just the parody in the middle and the tightness of
these um standings has been something that's fascinating and will
continue to be how close it is. But I want
to start with one of the teams that has been
one of the hottest in the NBA, the Sacramento Kings.
They have from won ten of their last twelve after
a victory last night in Brooklyn against the Nets. They
(01:28):
are currently sitting second in the Western Conference. They are
a half game ahead of Memphis for that second place spot.
They clinched a winning season for the first time since
two thousand and six. You're going to go to the
postseason for the first time since then, the longest drought
in the NBA. So a lot of great things that
you see from Mike Brown in this group and how
(01:50):
they've been playing collectively. Demonis bonus. Uh darn. Fox list
goes on the floor. Fox gonna go to work, mister
Clutch on the JP. What's impressed you most about this
(02:12):
group in the sustained level of play that we've seen
out of them, especially as a plate. Yeah, sir, there's
lots of layers to unpack, but the top of it
is what you outlined that you know, they've quit clunch
show winning record for the first time in sixteen years,
I know, dating back to Summer League being at the
California Classic. Uh, you know, the Kings are talking about, hey,
we think we have what it takes to end the
(02:33):
playoff drought. And you know, I think that there was
a lot of feeling around the NBA. Okay, let's wait
and see, because the Kings have gone through so many
different coaching changes, some misfires on draft picks, etc. They thought, Okay, well,
who knows that this is the same story. But we're
still a month away until the actual NBA regular season ends,
(02:53):
and we know for sure that they're gonna be in
the playoffs. And now the question is how deep that
can they be? And I think that there is a
strong feeling that, you know, this team is not just
a playoff team, but a team that could be in
serious contention. I mean, when you look at the numbers
from Demonta Sabonis and Daron Fox and rookie Kegan Murray,
(03:20):
you know, there are some concerns that will this team
ever play defense? And you would think that they would
because Mike Brown is the one who's coaching him, and
he's you know, had such a strong pedigree during his
head coaching stops two different times in Cleville and Short
Wheel with the Lakers, when you know he was an
assistant coach with the Warriors, he oversaw that side of
the ball and he really got his team to lock
(03:41):
down defensively. But I think in this case there's a
few things. Mike Brown, to his own admission, says, hey,
he expects better defensive results, but he's also being pragmatic about, hey,
working with your personnel and putting them in positions to
succeed and worrying about, you know, what can they do
well as opposed to what they can't do well. And
the reality is he oversaw a roster that has just
(04:05):
so much offensive talent, just how bustling classed, and that's
a big part of Sabonus's game. So I think from
now moving forward, especially as the playoffs get closer, he's
going to get on guys more about tightening their rotations
and all that. I think that they will be an
improved defensive team, but I think the reality is, especially
(04:25):
in today's NBA, they are so dominant offensively it might
not even make a difference even in a seven game series.
But we'll wait and see. The Western Conference has a
lot of parody, so everything's up in the air. Yeah,
they couldn't agree more in just having called the game
last night and watching them. The areas they score him
impressed me. So it's not like when you look at
(04:46):
translation to the postseason, it's not like they're necessarily getting
a ton of points off turnovers or second chance points,
or that they are excellent in how they execute on
the offensive side, their accuracy and efficiency from the field,
from the three points line, and also even defensively, like
they don't put you on the free through line a lot,
they don't give up a lot of fast breakpoll. I
mean that's areas where when you think about, okay, how
(05:07):
teams play and when the positions met, the possessions matter
a little bit more in the postseason. I think there
is translation to the style of play that you see
out of these players. We mentioned Sacramento sitting in that
second place spot in the Western Conference, that is a
half game ahead of the Memphis Grizzlies, who await the
return of John Morants. They just lost Wednesday to Miami.
(05:32):
As the league announced a retroactive eight game suspension. Phillis
in a little bit mark about the situation with Jah
in Grizzlies when they can expect to have him back
on the floor with them. Yell. THENBA announced earlier this
week that he is allowed to be available as soon
as March twentieth against the Dallas Mavericks, So that will
(05:52):
be next Monday. That sidelines John Morant for the grizzlies
next two games, first Friday against the San Antonio spur
and then a home game on NBA TV on Saturday
against the Golden State Warriors. So it goes without saying
they will heavily welcome his return, especially because they've earned
some other notable absences with season ending injuries to Brandon
(06:15):
Clark and to Steven Adams, and so I think, you know,
obviously the timing is right for Jah to help the
Grizzlies turn things around and have consistent winning habits and
try to get some separation not only from you know,
fourth through six, but maybe creep up on the Sacramento
(06:35):
Kings for that second spot. But you know what, I
think that as much as the Grizzlies will obviously benefit
from Jaw's return, I think from even justin X As
an o standpoint, there are going to be a lot
of questions surrounding his return. On one hand, it's plug
and play Jaws, their best player on the team, obviously
(06:56):
a star guy. But you know, how well can he
return to the court after dealing with a lot of
off the court issues, especially in road games. You know,
obviously he'll be embraced by Grizzlies fans at home, but
what about the hostile road environment considering the severity of
the circumstances that had him sideline to begin with. So,
(07:16):
you know, talking to people in the Grizzlies recently, they
feel like it's they're a very resilient team. You know,
they have experienced going twenty and five last season without
John Morant, but they've struggled a little bit more this
season without him, and they've also shown inconsistency with their
young roster of you know, how much can they really
focus just on the game itself as opposed to all
(07:39):
the extracurricular in terms of trash talking and all that.
So obviously a team that is a serious contender, but
it remains to be seeing like where they really reside
in this pecking order, even knowing that Jah is going
to come back soon. Yeah, And as you mentioned, I
mean you look at the West and you think about matchups,
(08:00):
you think about matchup in the playoffs and who may
see who given the fact that you've got a lot
of teams with whether it's key players, veteran experience, those
type of things, towards the bottom of the standings and
those still fighting to get in. The Lakers in the
Dallas Mavericks two of those teams. They have a big
matchup tonight on NBA TV. As Dallas is currently sitting
(08:23):
in the eighth spot, they are a game ahead of
the ninth place Los Angeles Lakers, who tied with Oklahoma
City as well, but both in those those playoffs standings
trying to get a Golden State team in the six
seated spot in the West. What's your perspective on this
matchup tonight. This is a big one here as you
got both Dallas and the Lakers looking to make some
(08:45):
moves here up the standings. Yeah, that's a big one,
but unfortunately there's just a lot of injuries on both teams.
I think, most notably with Dallas and average Luca Dodgins
is going to miss his fourth consecutive game because of
a left thigh straight Now I've told that as far
as just how Luca's progress is, He's considered day to
(09:06):
day and there's optimism that, you know, he'll come back
sooner or later, but at least in the short term,
he's definitely out for Friday's game against the Lakers. There's
you know, literal questionable marks on whether guys like Tim Hardaway,
Kyrie Irving, JaVale McGee, Markieth Morris will be able to
suit up. They're all listened as questionable and the Lakers end,
(09:28):
you know, Lebron James will continue to be out. He's
going to be evaluated sometime next week. But at least
for the Lakers, they have Anthony Davis, they have D'Angel Russell,
they have most of their you know, supporting cast, with
the exception of Mo Bamba. So it'll be interesting to
see because the stakes couldn't be higher for both teams.
But it seems like even when accounting for the Lakers
(09:51):
lost recently against Houston, they're trending in the upward direction.
I mean, obviously they it wasn't good that they lost
the Rockets. Who has the worst record in the Western Conference,
But you could argue a lot of that attributed to
Anthony Davis sitting out second night of a back to back,
which is something the Lakers decided to do ahead of time.
But he's going to be back in the lineup, and
(10:12):
you know, I think then the big picture of things,
since the All Star Break, clearly they've benefited from those
trade deadline moves with you know, trading and Russell Westbrook
getting guys like D'Angel Russell and Malik Beasley to add
a lot more offensive chemistry and outside shooting, and so
it seems like because of that chemistry and the fact
(10:33):
that Luca Donchas remained sidelined, the edge would go to
the Lakers. But you know what, flip a coin, the
Lakers are only one game behind Dallas for that eight spot,
so really anything could happen. Yeah, and a key one then,
so you only have to win one game as opposed
to trying to win two. There in the nine tenth spot.
You mentioned Lebron getting reevaluated next week. Anymore on the
(10:56):
timeline of when you think the Lakers could expect his
return back to the floor, Yeah, well, I think that's
what the reevaluation will provide clarity on but I think
you know, in between that, just look at some tangible things.
Lebron James has been with the team, and so that's
a positive sign. Usually when a player has a significant
(11:17):
injury at the beginning of the time, they're not around
the team to be able to be in the trainer's
room or do rehab on their own. He's been sitting
with the team on the bench, and he also is
out of a walking boot that you know he started
the injury with that. But I think ever since the
injury happened, from what I had been told, there was
some sense of relief that at lasta wasn't going to
(11:38):
require surgery, and that there was optimism even at that
point that he could return before the end of the
regular season. But the earliest return would be with the
Lakers having nine games left, and I think that it
remains to be seen whether he can hit all those
nine games. There might be a scenario where he only
(11:58):
has a chunk of those games. Then it's about, okay,
will he return on a minute's restriction. So it's kind
of more of a cleaner rampway up toward play and
play or postseason play. So if I had to predict
that's that's the likely scenario that he'll return at some
point before the season ends, So there's at least a
(12:19):
more seamless integration process. And then just throwing Lebron right
in there during a play and tournament game, no doubt
Lebron could you know, rely on basketball IQ and skills
to jump right in. But from a health and safety standpoint,
ideally he starts out having some games on some limited
minutes to make things a little bit more seamless. Well,
(12:41):
speaking of it, a team that's looking and trying to
hang on to the six spot and avoid those playing
games as the Golden State Warriors will talking about them
right after the break Welcome back to and the Pulse
the Acousta joined by Mark Medina in Mark Golden State
Warriors hanging on to that number six spot in the West,
(13:03):
trying to avoid those playing games. They are at Atlanta
tonight on NBA TV prior to that Lakers Dallas matchup
that we were talking about. They're holding on here. But
when you look at the Warriors, the trajectory of how
they've been playing, what they have left here this season,
do you think they can remain in that top six spot.
(13:26):
I think they can remain in that top six spot.
And I know seeing the Warriors recently in LA after
they're loss against the Clippers, no doubt. You know, guys
like Steph Curry Draymond Green, they're so confident they can
figure things out because they have that championship equity. You know,
they went through some growing pains last year with overlapping injuries,
up and down play from some of their All star players,
(13:47):
as well as integrating young guys. Similar story here, but
here's two different dynamics. Their road record. When you look
at the splits here, they're twenty nine and seven at home,
seven and twenty seven on the road. And here's just
how bad that record is. It's almost as bad as
the San Antonio Spurs road record six and twenty seven,
(14:08):
the Houston Rockets six and twenty eight, and the Detroit
Pistons seven and twenty seven. And you know those three
teams are going to be in the lottery. The Warriors
are not only just trying to make the playoffs, they're
trying to defend their NBA championship. The other concern is
their defense. Now, you know, the Warriors since the All
Star break have seen improvement in that end of the floor,
(14:29):
but they've also seen inconsistency with being able to defend
without fouling, losing the offensive rebounding battle, and maybe some
of those things can be addressed just from a personnel standpoint,
I mean, short term, Draymond Green is going to have
to miss the game against Atlanta because he got that
sixteenth technical foul. But he'll come back after that. But
(14:50):
it remains to be seeing when Andrew Wiggins will come back.
You know, he's out with a personal issue. It's not
clear when he'll be able to return. Gary Payton the
second He's expect to be a reevaluate some time next week.
But the reality is time is running out. And as
much as I do have trust in the warriors championship equity,
(15:10):
they won championships in their previous years because they knew
how to win on the road in the playoffs and
they defended at a really high level. So while I
won't discount everything else that makes the Warriors great, Steph
Curry's offensive brilliance, that you know, that familiarity in chemistry.
You know, they just haven't proven that they can address
(15:31):
those two very glaring question marks. And when I asked
Steph Curry the other day, how much from a big
picture lens do you view the home and road splits
is ultimately being something that matters. He was saying, it's
the ultimate tease and knowing what to make of the team,
(15:51):
and so he expressed confidence that they can turn it around.
But he himself was the first to admit that, you know,
he was expecting them to be a much better road
team at this point. Yeah, it's as we said, you know,
the Warrior's team. There's someone that you don't ever want
to count out given their championship pedigree, but certainly that's
going to matter down the stretch of this season. Mark,
(16:12):
As always, we appreciate your time, we appreciate you joining us,
and while you're in the midst of hopefully not having
your bracket, your NCUBA turning bracket busted too much checking
on those games on NBA TV. Here tonight, NBA pulsewis
Serku Stock is a production of the NBA and iHeartRadio.
Please rate, review, and subscribe on the iHeartRadio app or
wherever you get your podcast.
Welcoming into NBA Pulsi production of iHeartRadio in the NBA.
I'm Sarah Kustack, NBA analysts for the S Network. In
Today is Friday, March seventeenth. Happy Saint Patrick's Day. From
our incredible core group of NBA journalists. We're joined now
by NBA dot Com senior writer Mark mcdina. Mark, thanks
for being here with us. Happy, happy Friday, Happy good
(00:23):
luck day. Yeah, Sarah, right back at you. Happy. I
think for many people, maybe not happy, but sad bracket
busting day after only one day of the NAD quick yeah,
and at least for me, I don't know what's more
of a jumble mess the bracket or you know, these
NBA standings in the playoff races. But I think the
good thing for the NBA is unlike a lot of
(00:45):
people who participate in the bracket like myself, everyone still
has a chance here. Um so yeah, the last month,
fun month of the NBA season to see all this
a little bit more runway, A new set of market
has It's been tremendous to watch. It can to you
looking at these standings in particular Western Conference has been
something that you know, I think throughout the course of it.
(01:07):
Just the parody in the middle and the tightness of
these um standings has been something that's fascinating and will
continue to be how close it is. But I want
to start with one of the teams that has been
one of the hottest in the NBA, the Sacramento Kings.
They have from won ten of their last twelve after
a victory last night in Brooklyn against the Nets. They
(01:28):
are currently sitting second in the Western Conference. They are
a half game ahead of Memphis for that second place spot.
They clinched a winning season for the first time since
two thousand and six. You're going to go to the
postseason for the first time since then, the longest drought
in the NBA. So a lot of great things that
you see from Mike Brown in this group and how
(01:50):
they've been playing collectively. Demonis bonus. Uh darn. Fox list
goes on the floor. Fox gonna go to work, mister
Clutch on the JP. What's impressed you most about this
(02:12):
group in the sustained level of play that we've seen
out of them, especially as a plate. Yeah, sir, there's
lots of layers to unpack, but the top of it
is what you outlined that you know, they've quit clunch
show winning record for the first time in sixteen years,
I know, dating back to Summer League being at the
California Classic. Uh, you know, the Kings are talking about, hey,
we think we have what it takes to end the
(02:33):
playoff drought. And you know, I think that there was
a lot of feeling around the NBA. Okay, let's wait
and see, because the Kings have gone through so many
different coaching changes, some misfires on draft picks, etc. They thought, Okay, well,
who knows that this is the same story. But we're
still a month away until the actual NBA regular season ends,
(02:53):
and we know for sure that they're gonna be in
the playoffs. And now the question is how deep that
can they be? And I think that there is a
strong feeling that, you know, this team is not just
a playoff team, but a team that could be in
serious contention. I mean, when you look at the numbers
from Demonta Sabonis and Daron Fox and rookie Kegan Murray,
(03:20):
you know, there are some concerns that will this team
ever play defense? And you would think that they would
because Mike Brown is the one who's coaching him, and
he's you know, had such a strong pedigree during his
head coaching stops two different times in Cleville and Short
Wheel with the Lakers, when you know he was an
assistant coach with the Warriors, he oversaw that side of
the ball and he really got his team to lock
(03:41):
down defensively. But I think in this case there's a
few things. Mike Brown, to his own admission, says, hey,
he expects better defensive results, but he's also being pragmatic about, hey,
working with your personnel and putting them in positions to
succeed and worrying about, you know, what can they do
well as opposed to what they can't do well. And
the reality is he oversaw a roster that has just
(04:05):
so much offensive talent, just how bustling classed, and that's
a big part of Sabonus's game. So I think from
now moving forward, especially as the playoffs get closer, he's
going to get on guys more about tightening their rotations
and all that. I think that they will be an
improved defensive team, but I think the reality is, especially
(04:25):
in today's NBA, they are so dominant offensively it might
not even make a difference even in a seven game series.
But we'll wait and see. The Western Conference has a
lot of parody, so everything's up in the air. Yeah,
they couldn't agree more in just having called the game
last night and watching them. The areas they score him
impressed me. So it's not like when you look at
(04:46):
translation to the postseason, it's not like they're necessarily getting
a ton of points off turnovers or second chance points,
or that they are excellent in how they execute on
the offensive side, their accuracy and efficiency from the field,
from the three points line, and also even defensively, like
they don't put you on the free through line a lot,
they don't give up a lot of fast breakpoll. I
mean that's areas where when you think about, okay, how
(05:07):
teams play and when the positions met, the possessions matter
a little bit more in the postseason. I think there
is translation to the style of play that you see
out of these players. We mentioned Sacramento sitting in that
second place spot in the Western Conference, that is a
half game ahead of the Memphis Grizzlies, who await the
return of John Morants. They just lost Wednesday to Miami.
(05:32):
As the league announced a retroactive eight game suspension. Phillis
in a little bit mark about the situation with Jah
in Grizzlies when they can expect to have him back
on the floor with them. Yell. THENBA announced earlier this
week that he is allowed to be available as soon
as March twentieth against the Dallas Mavericks, So that will
(05:52):
be next Monday. That sidelines John Morant for the grizzlies
next two games, first Friday against the San Antonio spur
and then a home game on NBA TV on Saturday
against the Golden State Warriors. So it goes without saying
they will heavily welcome his return, especially because they've earned
some other notable absences with season ending injuries to Brandon
(06:15):
Clark and to Steven Adams, and so I think, you know,
obviously the timing is right for Jah to help the
Grizzlies turn things around and have consistent winning habits and
try to get some separation not only from you know,
fourth through six, but maybe creep up on the Sacramento
(06:35):
Kings for that second spot. But you know what, I
think that as much as the Grizzlies will obviously benefit
from Jaw's return, I think from even justin X As
an o standpoint, there are going to be a lot
of questions surrounding his return. On one hand, it's plug
and play Jaws, their best player on the team, obviously
(06:56):
a star guy. But you know, how well can he
return to the court after dealing with a lot of
off the court issues, especially in road games. You know,
obviously he'll be embraced by Grizzlies fans at home, but
what about the hostile road environment considering the severity of
the circumstances that had him sideline to begin with. So,
(07:16):
you know, talking to people in the Grizzlies recently, they
feel like it's they're a very resilient team. You know,
they have experienced going twenty and five last season without
John Morant, but they've struggled a little bit more this
season without him, and they've also shown inconsistency with their
young roster of you know, how much can they really
focus just on the game itself as opposed to all
(07:39):
the extracurricular in terms of trash talking and all that.
So obviously a team that is a serious contender, but
it remains to be seeing like where they really reside
in this pecking order, even knowing that Jah is going
to come back soon. Yeah, And as you mentioned, I
mean you look at the West and you think about matchups,
(08:00):
you think about matchup in the playoffs and who may
see who given the fact that you've got a lot
of teams with whether it's key players, veteran experience, those
type of things, towards the bottom of the standings and
those still fighting to get in. The Lakers in the
Dallas Mavericks two of those teams. They have a big
matchup tonight on NBA TV. As Dallas is currently sitting
(08:23):
in the eighth spot, they are a game ahead of
the ninth place Los Angeles Lakers, who tied with Oklahoma
City as well, but both in those those playoffs standings
trying to get a Golden State team in the six
seated spot in the West. What's your perspective on this
matchup tonight. This is a big one here as you
got both Dallas and the Lakers looking to make some
(08:45):
moves here up the standings. Yeah, that's a big one,
but unfortunately there's just a lot of injuries on both teams.
I think, most notably with Dallas and average Luca Dodgins
is going to miss his fourth consecutive game because of
a left thigh straight Now I've told that as far
as just how Luca's progress is, He's considered day to
(09:06):
day and there's optimism that, you know, he'll come back
sooner or later, but at least in the short term,
he's definitely out for Friday's game against the Lakers. There's
you know, literal questionable marks on whether guys like Tim Hardaway,
Kyrie Irving, JaVale McGee, Markieth Morris will be able to
suit up. They're all listened as questionable and the Lakers end,
(09:28):
you know, Lebron James will continue to be out. He's
going to be evaluated sometime next week. But at least
for the Lakers, they have Anthony Davis, they have D'Angel Russell,
they have most of their you know, supporting cast, with
the exception of Mo Bamba. So it'll be interesting to
see because the stakes couldn't be higher for both teams.
But it seems like even when accounting for the Lakers
(09:51):
lost recently against Houston, they're trending in the upward direction.
I mean, obviously they it wasn't good that they lost
the Rockets. Who has the worst record in the Western Conference,
But you could argue a lot of that attributed to
Anthony Davis sitting out second night of a back to back,
which is something the Lakers decided to do ahead of time.
But he's going to be back in the lineup, and
(10:12):
you know, I think then the big picture of things,
since the All Star Break, clearly they've benefited from those
trade deadline moves with you know, trading and Russell Westbrook
getting guys like D'Angel Russell and Malik Beasley to add
a lot more offensive chemistry and outside shooting, and so
it seems like because of that chemistry and the fact
(10:33):
that Luca Donchas remained sidelined, the edge would go to
the Lakers. But you know what, flip a coin, the
Lakers are only one game behind Dallas for that eight spot,
so really anything could happen. Yeah, and a key one then,
so you only have to win one game as opposed
to trying to win two. There in the nine tenth spot.
You mentioned Lebron getting reevaluated next week. Anymore on the
(10:56):
timeline of when you think the Lakers could expect his
return back to the floor, Yeah, well, I think that's
what the reevaluation will provide clarity on but I think
you know, in between that, just look at some tangible things.
Lebron James has been with the team, and so that's
a positive sign. Usually when a player has a significant
(11:17):
injury at the beginning of the time, they're not around
the team to be able to be in the trainer's
room or do rehab on their own. He's been sitting
with the team on the bench, and he also is
out of a walking boot that you know he started
the injury with that. But I think ever since the
injury happened, from what I had been told, there was
some sense of relief that at lasta wasn't going to
(11:38):
require surgery, and that there was optimism even at that
point that he could return before the end of the
regular season. But the earliest return would be with the
Lakers having nine games left, and I think that it
remains to be seen whether he can hit all those
nine games. There might be a scenario where he only
(11:58):
has a chunk of those games. Then it's about, okay,
will he return on a minute's restriction. So it's kind
of more of a cleaner rampway up toward play and
play or postseason play. So if I had to predict
that's that's the likely scenario that he'll return at some
point before the season ends, So there's at least a
(12:19):
more seamless integration process. And then just throwing Lebron right
in there during a play and tournament game, no doubt
Lebron could you know, rely on basketball IQ and skills
to jump right in. But from a health and safety standpoint,
ideally he starts out having some games on some limited
minutes to make things a little bit more seamless. Well,
(12:41):
speaking of it, a team that's looking and trying to
hang on to the six spot and avoid those playing
games as the Golden State Warriors will talking about them
right after the break Welcome back to and the Pulse
the Acousta joined by Mark Medina in Mark Golden State
Warriors hanging on to that number six spot in the West,
(13:03):
trying to avoid those playing games. They are at Atlanta
tonight on NBA TV prior to that Lakers Dallas matchup
that we were talking about. They're holding on here. But
when you look at the Warriors, the trajectory of how
they've been playing, what they have left here this season,
do you think they can remain in that top six spot.
(13:26):
I think they can remain in that top six spot.
And I know seeing the Warriors recently in LA after
they're loss against the Clippers, no doubt. You know, guys
like Steph Curry Draymond Green, they're so confident they can
figure things out because they have that championship equity. You know,
they went through some growing pains last year with overlapping injuries,
up and down play from some of their All star players,
(13:47):
as well as integrating young guys. Similar story here, but
here's two different dynamics. Their road record. When you look
at the splits here, they're twenty nine and seven at home,
seven and twenty seven on the road. And here's just
how bad that record is. It's almost as bad as
the San Antonio Spurs road record six and twenty seven,
(14:08):
the Houston Rockets six and twenty eight, and the Detroit
Pistons seven and twenty seven. And you know those three
teams are going to be in the lottery. The Warriors
are not only just trying to make the playoffs, they're
trying to defend their NBA championship. The other concern is
their defense. Now, you know, the Warriors since the All
Star break have seen improvement in that end of the floor,
(14:29):
but they've also seen inconsistency with being able to defend
without fouling, losing the offensive rebounding battle, and maybe some
of those things can be addressed just from a personnel standpoint,
I mean, short term, Draymond Green is going to have
to miss the game against Atlanta because he got that
sixteenth technical foul. But he'll come back after that. But
(14:50):
it remains to be seeing when Andrew Wiggins will come back.
You know, he's out with a personal issue. It's not
clear when he'll be able to return. Gary Payton the
second He's expect to be a reevaluate some time next week.
But the reality is time is running out. And as
much as I do have trust in the warriors championship equity,
(15:10):
they won championships in their previous years because they knew
how to win on the road in the playoffs and
they defended at a really high level. So while I
won't discount everything else that makes the Warriors great, Steph
Curry's offensive brilliance, that you know, that familiarity in chemistry.
You know, they just haven't proven that they can address
(15:31):
those two very glaring question marks. And when I asked
Steph Curry the other day, how much from a big
picture lens do you view the home and road splits
is ultimately being something that matters. He was saying, it's
the ultimate tease and knowing what to make of the team,
(15:51):
and so he expressed confidence that they can turn it around.
But he himself was the first to admit that, you know,
he was expecting them to be a much better road
team at this point. Yeah, it's as we said, you know,
the Warrior's team. There's someone that you don't ever want
to count out given their championship pedigree, but certainly that's
going to matter down the stretch of this season. Mark,
(16:12):
As always, we appreciate your time, we appreciate you joining us,
and while you're in the midst of hopefully not having
your bracket, your NCUBA turning bracket busted too much checking
on those games on NBA TV. Here tonight, NBA pulsewis
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