Golden State Warriors Tank Watch: Dubs Beat Timberwolves, Ruin Draft Status
"Well, well, well. I didn't think you had it in you."
So said Johnny Ringo to whom he believed to be Wyatt Earp in the 1993 movie Tombstone.
The same quote can be applied to the Golden State Warriors, who had been dragging their collective feet toward the finish line of this tortuous NBA season. Many suggested that the Dubs would be in tank mode, which involved a not-so-complex mathematic formula of deliberately trying to lose ballgames to improve their draft status in the NBA lottery in May. If the Warriors had any mettle, pride and bravery left inside them, it'd be a pleasant surprise given the negative circumstances surrounding the team and their future lottery prospects.
Golden State appeared to be in full-on tank mode for the past few weeks, sloughing its starting lineup and restocking it with four baby-faced rookies. It seemed as though the Dubs had physically checked out (if they hadn't already) and mentally folded up shop for the season.
In compliance with the team's intentional tank mode, the Warriors actually were losing games—eight in a row and 15 of their last 17 contests heading into their Sunday tilt against the Minnesota Timberwolves. This was their third game in three days,—all on the road—and it was a perfect setup for the Warriors to assist them in losing the rest of their games on this season's schedule.
Except a funny thing happened on the way to Minneapolis.
Timberwolves All-Star forward Kevin Love had been ruled out of Sunday's game to continue recovering from a mild concussion he suffered earlier this month. Considering Love's continued dominance over Golden State so far this season (32.5 points, 14.0 rebounds per game), the undermanned Warriors would have been no match for the T-Wolves in the last game of a back-to-back-to-back set.
Instead, the Love-less Timberwolves lacked enough heart on Sunday, and they let the Warriors escape Minnesota with a likely unanticipated—and certainly unwanted—99-96 victory.
Certainly, fans did not think the Warriors had it in them to snuff out another win over the course of the remainder of their sad season.
The win put a monkey wrench in the Warriors Tank Watch, as it gives Golden State a 23-41 record—the eighth-worst in the NBA. Unfortunately, as bad of a record as that is, the goal of tank mode was to fall into the bottom seven in the league. This would help secure Golden State's lottery pick in the upcoming draft at season’s end.
Instead, the Dubs miraculously won.
Terrible. Only the Warriors could screw up something so wrong by doing something right.
Sunday’s victory surely proved that the team was in fact trying to win ball games this entire time. And in any other moment during the season, this would have been an incredibly admirable victory, as Golden State came back from a 21-point deficit to secure the road victory.
However, the win could not have come at a more inopportune time.
Golden State should have gone into masonry mode and thrown up more bricks down the stretch. Even though the T-Wolves were t-errible in their own right, the Warriors needed to do more (or less) to continue with tank mode. Props need to be awarded to the entire team for staying in the fight the whole way through, holding Minnesota to 13 fourth-quarter points and an impressive 36.6 percent field-goal shooting for the entire game.
But unfortunately, this was not the result Warriors fans were hoping for. Golden State now sits in eighth from the bottom in the league, which means the team has a 10 percent chance of retaining its draft pick. Knowing the Warriors' history of failure, they probably won't, which is why tank mode was so desired; the more the team fell in the standings, the higher their lottery odds in the NBA draft.
Everything was going smoothly in reaching that goal, and the Dubs were cruising to an easy eight-game losing streak.
Until Sunday night.
The short-handed Warriors team met an even more short-handed Timberwolves squad (if that's possible.) There's no love lost for a pathetic Minnesota unit that could not squash the hapless Dubs, who were playing without all members of their opening day starting five. Rookie Charles Jenkins led the way with 24 points and eight assists, completing the 21-point comeback for Golden State's 11th road victory.
The Warriors still have two games to play—and lose—to try to fall into the bottom seven. But it appears that this victory over the Timberwolves may have taken them off course, ruining tank mode for the time being.
Warriors fans can only shake their collective heads in shame. The Dubs lose the games they should win, and then win the games they need to lose.
In typical fashion, Golden State can't do anything right.
Not even losing basketball games.
