The Golden State Warriors finally will catch a break in the schedule, and at an opportune time, when they host the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday night in San Francisco.
The Warriors (47-32) climbed into a four-way tie for fourth place in the Western Conference with a 133-95 shellacking of the Phoenix Suns on the road Tuesday night.
Tiebreakers will help sort out final seedings before the playoffs, if needed.
Playing for the ninth time in the past 18 days, with seven games on the road, the Warriors completed a rugged stretch 6-3 and gained ground on most of the competition for the third through eighth playoff and play-in spots in the West.
Seven of the nine games were against playoff contenders.
The schedule softens now, with the next two games against the lottery-bound Spurs and Portland Trail Blazers, before a regular-season finale against the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday.
Golden State must endure a 10th game in 19 days on the second night of a back-to-back Wednesday, one big reason why coach Steve Kerr enjoyed watching the romp at Phoenix basically turn into a scrimmage.
“Great night for us with the back-to-back to keep everybody under 25 minutes or so,” said Kerr, whose team has won six of its past seven games. “And then get a lot of minutes for guys off the bench. It’s always important to keep the spirits up when you’re one of the guys that doesn’t play a whole bunch.”
The Warriors and Spurs (32-47) split a pair of earlier meetings in San Antonio under very different circumstances.
The Spurs, led at the time by Victor Wembanyama, used a 33-13 finish to overtake the Warriors on the road 104-94 on Nov. 23, before Golden State, having added Jimmy Butler, blitzed the hosts for a 44-point first quarter en route to a blowout 148-106 win on March 30.
That second game came after Wembanyama was shut down for the season on Feb. 20 due to blood clots in his right shoulder.
Like the Warriors, the Spurs will play a second game in two nights. They were competitive in a road effort Tuesday against the Los Angeles Clippers but lost 122-117.
The loss was the eighth in the past nine games for the Spurs, who almost surely will end the season with the eighth-worst record in the NBA and thus the eighth-best odds to win the NBA draft lottery.
The strong effort against the Clippers resulted in starters Stephon Castle (32) and Harrison Barnes (31) both playing upward of 30 minutes and scoring 19 and 24 points, respectively. Veteran Chris Paul, in his quest to play all 82 games this season, went 25 minutes, scoring nine points.
Paul, who played 58 games for the Warriors last season before leaving as a free agent, indicated earlier this week he won’t say goodbye for good to his old fans when he visits Wednesday.
“Yeah man, I’m going to keep playing … I think,” said Paul, who will turn 40 in May. “At the end of every season, I evaluate everything. Evaluate playing. Evaluate how my body feels.
“But the more years that go by, it’s more conversations with my family, with my kids. They have a lot of say-so. They got a lot of input.”
Paul this season has averaged a career-low 8.8 points but 7.5 assists, up from last year’s 6.8.
–Field Level Media
