We all thought it would be a long time before we had to say the words “the Golden State Warriors just lost to the Orlando Magic” again. But one Steph Curry injury later, and that’s the reality the Dubs are currently facing. After a brutal stretch of basketball in the 4th quarter, the Magic ended up taking a last-minute victory, 94-90, over the Warriors.

There’s been a lot of post-game noise from both the Warriors themselves and their fans, mostly surrounding their inability to win close games. Steve Kerr had some words around the team’s inability to win right now and how they have to “learn how to win”, but it was Draymond Green in particular who sounded off in his post-game media availability about the issues the Warriors are facing:

Yikes.

“Punked” is a pretty good way to describe it. Aside from Jordan Poole and Otto Porter Jr., there weren’t many Warriors who looked like they fully wanted to win tonight. It feels like a coasting game, a “whatever, it’s just the Magic” type of game. But a “whatever, it’s just the Magic” type of game can quickly lead to a slide that the Warriors can’t avoid falling into right now.

Golden State is currently only 2 games ahead of the 4th-place team, the Utah Jazz, in the Western Conference standings. They also play the Jazz one more time this season. Both teams have some strong opponents in their upcoming games - both will play both the Suns and the Grizzlies (and technically, the Lakers), while Golden State plays the Heat and Utah plays both the Celtics and the Mavericks - and with the Warriors playing the way they are right now, it’s not impossible that some of the easier matchups get a lot tougher.

Per Power Rankings Guru, the Jazz have the 7th hardest remaining strength of schedule, while the Warriors have just the 13th. The numbers say it could realistically go either way, as that data is only based on who their opponents are and not how the teams themselves are performing, which is a scary thought when it could mean dropping out of the 3rd seed. If that were to happen, the Warriors might find themselves in a tough first round against the Mavericks. They could also meet the Jazz, as Dallas is only a game behind Utah and may overtake them with one of the league’s easier schedules at 26th in terms of strength.

Whatever the scenario - keeping the 3rd seed or sliding to 4th, or may even worse - the Warriors need to right the ship. This loss was a hard one to watch. Steph Curry is essential to this team, and will be during the playoffs, but if the Dubs can’t figure it out with him off the court? Those championship aspirations are looking a lot shallower than they were even just a week or two ago. There’s too much inconsistency. You can blame youth, even coaching to a degree, but it’s on the players themselves to execute when 30 is not on the floor… Or else this season may end earlier than anticipated.

(Photo credit: Gene Sweeney Jr. / Getty Images)