I can certainly sympathize with the thousands upon thousands of Golden State fans who are ready to claw their eyeballs out of their collective heads while watching the last few weeks of regular season hoops.  After all, they endured the dark ages of Warriors hoops when every team in the NBA would virtually pencil in a W next to the Warriors logo on their schedules for 20+ years straight.  Some of those lingering anxieties still hang on even these days as Warrior fans tend to freak out over every bump in the road no matter the size.

The way I see it however is the Warriors will face either New Orleans, San Antonio, Utah, or Minnesota in the first round of the playoffs as they are locked into the #2 seed in the West.

There are 8 regular season games left that will span from now until April 10th so playoffs are essentially starting in 2-weeks.  Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson have been looking very good at practice over the past few days and are set to return to action this week.  Draymond Green will likely be back as well this week.  Steph Curry is out with an MCL sprain but is not walking with crutches which is a very good sign.  Kerr mentioned that he will not play in the first round of the playoffs.  It’s probably a safe bet to assume that he will return for the beginning of the second round and be very well rested when he returns.  The Warriors can MOST DEFINETLY get past the above mentioned potential first round matchups without Steph.  If you even want to argue with that you’re a homer and your hoop knowledge should be questioned.

This takes us to the beginning of the second round with a fully healthy Warriors squad which again includes a rested Steph Curry.  Motivation will not be a factor as it has been throughout the regular season because these guys will finally have something to be playing for.  Rust will not be an issue with Curry simply because he’s never really shown to have any rust after long or short layoffs in the past.

Also, the Warriors four All-Stars missing meaningless games is a blessing in the fact that the Warriors bench got much more run than they normally would have.  Players like Quinn Cook and Kevon Looney have been able to shine, gain confidence and get a rhythm going when normally they wouldn’t have had this sort of opportunity.  The extra minutes that the Warriors reserves have had over the last few weeks will defiantly shine through in the post season making the team even more deadly.

As it looks now the Warriors should have a healthy Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green to enter the second round of the playoffs.  A fully healthy, confident, well rested Golden State team to begin the second round of the playoffs is a lock to win the Championship so lets just all RELAX!