Who will the Golden State Warriors be playing in the first round?
By Justin Fried
The Golden State Warriors are close to figuring out who their first-round opponents will be in the playoffs. Here are the possible scenarios with one day remaining.
We have reached the very last day of the NBA regular season, but the Golden State Warriors still do not have a set opponent for the first round of the NBA playoffs.
Despite there being just one game remaining in the season, three teams are still in contention for the bottom three seeds in the Western Conference leaving the Warriors guessing who their first-round opponents will be. The Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs, and Los Angeles Clippers are all still possible foes for the Warriors and the games tonight will determine the final seeding.
At the moment, the Thunder sit as the sixth seed — one game ahead of the other two teams. A win tonight would clinch them the sixth-seed, however, the challenge ahead of them is no easy task.
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Oklahoma City will take on the Milwaukee Bucks who possess an NBA-best 60-21 record meaning that a victory is far from assured. However, top MVP candidate Giannis Antetokounmpo will be sitting out as the team rests him ahead of the playoffs making the contest easier than it may appear on paper.
But the fact still remains that if the Thunder win, Golden State will not play them. However, things get a bit trickier if they lose.
The Spurs will take on the lowly Dallas Mavericks where the more noteworthy storyline will be the final game in the storied career of Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki. The Clippers, on the other hand, will be squaring off with the Utah Jazz who currently hold the No. 5 seed in the Western Conference.
San Antonio clearly has the easiest matchup of the three but all games are certainly winnable, especially with Giannis out versus Oklahoma City. Essentially, the scenario breakdown goes like this.
Scenario 1: OKC (W), SA (W), LAC (W) — Clippers
Scenario 2: OKC (L), SA (L), LAC (L) — Clippers
Scenario 3: OKC (W), SA (W), LAC (L) — Clippers
Scenario 4: OKC (W), SA (L), LAC (L) — Clippers
Scenario 5: OKC (L), SA (W), LAC (L) — Clippers
Scenario 6: OKC (W), SA (L), LAC (W) — Spurs
Scenario 7: OKC (L), SA (L), LAC (W) — Spurs
Scenario 8: OKC (L), SA (W), LAC (W) — Thunder
Basically, that is just a fancy way to make it known that the Warriors most likely opponents will, indeed, be the Clippers. In fact, the only scenario Golden State would find themselves facing the Thunder — likely the most difficult matchup for the team — would be if Oklahoma City lost and the other two teams won.
The Warriors would face the Spurs if they lost and the Clippers won, regardless of what the Thunder do. If the Clippers lose in any way, the Warriors would wind up playing them and even if they won, they could still find themselves facing their in-state rivals if both the Thunder and Spurs win as well.
Next. Golden State Warriors are still the team to beat in Western Conference. dark
The entire process is a bit convoluted but by tomorrow, we will know exactly who the Warriors will be playing. Until then, we will just have to sit back and await the results of tonight’s games.