Warriors Rooting Guide for Final Month of Regular Season

Draymond Green can't get healthy fast enough for the Golden State Warriors.

The Dubs have flat-lined without their top defender and distributor, who hasn't played meaningful minutes since Jan. 5 due to a nagging back injury. They were a world-beating 29-8 at the time. They're now taking a 43-22 record into Tuesday night, meaning they've gone an underwhelming 14-14 without him.

The good news is he hopes to return within the week. The bad news is enough damage has already been done that instead of spending their stretch run trying to catch the Phoenix Suns for the NBA's No. 1 seed, they'll either be jostling for the Memphis Grizzlies for the No. 2 seed or trying to fend off the Utah Jazz and Dallas Mavericks for No. 3.

With the Warriors in need of outside help to maintain or improve their position, this is how their fans should approach the final month.

Root Against: Memphis Grizzlies

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As soon as Memphis made Ja Morant the No. 2 pick of the 2019 draft and, by extension, the face of its franchise, it should have known that a slow-and-steady rebuild wasn't going to work.

The explosive point guard's motor doesn't run that low.

The Grizzlies' All-Star has also been their accelerator, piloting them to a surprise playoff trip last season and a climb all the way to the West's No. 2 seed this time around.

If Golden State can't close the gap—which is only a half-game as of Tuesday afternoon—then Memphis instead will open the postseason against a Play-In Tournament team, while Golden State would lock horns with the Jazz, Mavericks or Denver Nuggets first before heading to Bluff City for the conference semis.

The Grizzlies have often appeared unbeatable after the calendar flipped to 2022, but they are a more manageable 4-4 since Morant returned from the ankle injury that forced him to miss their Feb. 15 win over the New Orleans Pelicans.

Memphis has missed the two-way presence of Dillon Brooks (out with an ankle injury since early January), and Desmond Bane's fiery shooting touch has cooled over the past month (39.4 percent shooting since the start of February).

Root For: Minnesota Timberwolves

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Admittedly, this could be one of those be-careful-what-you-wish-for situations.

The Timberwolves are plenty feisty, as the Warriors witnessed firsthand in their two trips to Minneapolis this season, both of which resulted in double-digit defeats. Golden State has no obvious answer for Karl-Anthony Towns, and if Klay Thompson can't find his form on defense, the Dubs could have trouble containing both D'Angelo Russell and Anthony Edwards.

And yet that still sounds like a better proposition than potentially opening the playoffs by tangling with a Denver Nuggets team featuring the possible MVP and maybe healthy-ish versions of both Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. There is obviously much to sort out still, but as things stand, the Warriors would host a first-round series with the Nuggets.

So, Minnesota climbing up to No. 6 could be considered a win for Golden State. The Timberwolves could more directly help the Warriors, though, by taking care of the Dallas Mavericks in their two remaining matchups.

Root Against: Dallas Mavericks

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Technically, this spot should go to the Utah Jazz, since they are—as of Tuesday, at least—seeded higher than the Mavericks.

But for the past few months, Dallas has been the better team by a mile. The Mavericks are 23-7 with a plus-7.1 net rating since Jan. 1, per NBA.com. The Jazz are 14-15 with a plus-0.6 net rating over that same stretch.

So, even if the standings don't directly reflect it yet, Dallas looms as the larger threat to track down Golden State for the No. 3 seed.

As long as the Mavericks are seeded fourth or lower and the Warriors land at No. 2 or No. 3, Golden State would only need to beat one of Dallas or the Phoenix Suns to get out of the West. Not everyone might regard those teams as Golden State's biggest obstacles, but the Suns' resume speaks for itself, and if Dallas continues pairing Luka Doncic's offensive brilliance with a dominant defense (second in efficiency in 2022), that's a matchup even Stephen Curry and Co. might hope to avoid.