Steph Curry explains what Warriors must do to secure NBA playoff spot – NBC

With the NBA All-Star break in the rearview mirror, the Warriors’ mindset has shifted to the remainder of the 2023-24 season as they hope to continue to climb the Western Conference standings and re-establish themselves as true playoff contenders.

Golden State (27-26) sits in 10th place after winning eight of its last 10 games before the extended break. An unsteady season has been met with more consistency and balance in recent games, but Steph Curry knows the job is far from finished. While the Warriors superstar has faith in this team despite a turbulent showing, he detailed what Golden State must do to make the playoffs this season.

“It starts with just winning at home for us,” Curry told ESPN’s Malika Andrews in an exclusive interview that debuted Monday. “We’ve always had a strong homecourt advantage. I think we’re .500 at home right now so if we can protect our home court, we understand that we can play better on the road and play better against the top teams, we’ve had some tough fourth-quarter stretches that didn’t go our way and that’s the difference of being 5-6 in the standings versus 9-10 where we are.

“But if we take care of home court, we have 30 games left, I feel like we can steadily climb there. As long as we climb into the playoffs, no matter how we get there, whether that’s the play-in or climbing into the sixth spot, we know we’re a tough out. We know nobody wants to see us when we get there. We just got to get there.”

If the season ended today, the Warriors would secure the final NBA Play-In Tournament spot and would have to win two do-or-die games just play their way into a best-of-seven playoff series with the top contenders in the conference.

The top four seeds in the West — the Minnesota Timberwolves, Oklahoma City Thunder, Los Angeles Clippers and Denver Nuggets — are separated by three games.

The Phoenix Suns (33-22), New Orleans Pelicans (33-22), Dallas Mavericks (32-23), Sacramento Kings (31-23) and Los Angeles Lakers (30-26) also sit atop the Warriors, respectively, with the sixth-seeded Pelicans currently holding onto the final playoff berth.

With 29 regular-season games remaining, the time is now for the Warriors. Their fourth-quarter demons and self-inflicting wounds must be a thing of the past as they move forward in hopes of accomplishing their postseason goals.

And Curry has no doubt in his mind that they can’t do just that.

Download and follow the Dubs Talk Podcast