Young Golden State Warriors Losing Ground In Playoff Standings

Head coach Mark Jackson has been getting the most he can out of his youthful roster, but that youth may be starting to catch up to the Golden State Warriors.

Back on January 31, the Warriors were the fifth seed in the Western Conference standings and only trailed the Memphis Grizzlies by a 1/2 game for the fourth seed. Since that date, the Warriors are 6-11 and have dropped to the sixth seed in the West and may even be in danger of falling further in the standings if they don’t right the ship.

Declines such as these tend to happen with younger NBA teams. The Warriors are primarily led by Stephen Curry and David Lee, both players who have limited playoff experience with this season being Curry’s first in the NBA on a Warriors team with a winning record at this stage in the season. Teams typically lean on veteran leadership at this point in the campaign, and the Warriors are lacking in that department.

The Warriors do have a ton of talent and may be able to stop the slide, but the odds are beginning to get stacked against them. Curry won’t be able to continually shoot Golden State into games, center Andrew Bogut is still restricted physically and back up guard Jarrett Jack has been in a major shooting slump lately.

Chances are that the Warriors will still make the playoffs but the further they slide in the standings the harder their road to advancing past the first rounds becomes. Coach Jackson need to regroup his Warriors squad and inspire them to push through the toughest stretch of the season for a young playoff team in contention.