Golden State Warriors Tank Watch: Rockets Extend Dubs' Season-High Losing Streak

Ordinarily, a losing streak of eight games is a horrible, disheartening experience for an NBA team. After all, nobody likes to lose, so being on a losing streak of any length has to be hard to go through. But when a young, inexperienced team goes through a terribly tough stretch, not winning ball games for an extended period of time, it's even more depressing—for the players, coaching staff and the team's fans.

Not for the Golden State Warriors.

By losing to the Houston Rockets on Saturday night, 99-96, the Dubs reached a season-high eight-game losing streak. And yet it's but a thing of beauty for Warriors fans, who hope the team tanks the rest of the season in order to secure a lottery pick in May's NBA draft.

Saturday's contest was a bit of a nail-biter, however, as the Warriors actually were in this game to the very end. After getting demolished by the Dallas Mavericks the previous night, it was anticipated that Golden State would not have the energy to put up a fight against Houston. But the Warriors hung on throughout and were within one possession even in the waning seconds.

Fortunately for the Dubs, they did what they had to do, which is not secure a defensive rebound after the Rockets missed a field-goal attempt with 35 seconds remaining. Houston bumped the lead to five points and snuck out with a narrow victory, much to the dismay of the Warriors players, who put up an admirable fight given their shorthanded circumstances.

In the latest installment of "Warriors Tank Watch", Golden State featured a starting lineup of five completely different players from that of its season opener. Instead of Stephen Curry, Monta Ellis, Andris Biedrins, Dorell Wright and David Lee, the Dubs spotlighted four rookies—Jeremy Tyler, Mickell Gladness, Klay Thompson and Charles Jenkins—and a midseason trade acquisition, Richard Jefferson.

Wright became the fifth starter to go down, as he was held out to rest his sore ankle.

All five starters injured, inactive and traded away? Tank mode is at an all-time high.

And, as a result, the team is reaching its goal of attaining one of the seven-worst records in the NBA. With Saturday's defeat, Golden State fell into the bottom seven, tied with the Toronto Raptors. With just three games to go, the Warriors need to lose out in order to firmly grab hold of their first-round draft pick at season's end. In order to do so, the Dubs will have to complete a 11-game losing streak to finish their long campaign.

Can they do it?

Absolutely. Without Wright, the Warriors will have to rely on the scoring of Klay Thompson and the play of a pile of rookies. The odds are simply stacked against Golden State. Or, for the sake of "Warriors Tank Watch," are stacked in their favor.

An eight-game losing streak typically would elicit the feeling of anguish. Players naturally will start to hang their heads at the reality of losing so many games in a row.

But the Warriors should hold their heads high, as they are executing exactly what they need to do. An eight-game winning streak is bad, true. However, it will only be worse if they actually win one of their remaining three games. If they cap the season with an 11-game losing streak, then they can actually be proud of what they've accomplished.

Three more to go!

Follow me on Twitter: @nathanieljue