The Golden State Warriors are gaining momentum at the right time of the season.
The Western Conference is tightly bunched behind runaway leader Oklahoma City, and the Warriors have secured a spot in the postseason, something that didn’t appear likely at the All-Star break.
Since the break, Golden State (43-31) has gone 15-4. With a victory over the host Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday night, the Warriors will nudge past Memphis (44-31) by percentage points for fifth place in the West.
It’s been a remarkable late-season run in which Golden State has been playing some of its best basketball.
Steph Curry recently returned from a pelvic contusion injury, and the Warriors have back-to-back wins, including Sunday’s 148-106 victory over the San Antonio Spurs.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr was able to limit his starters’ minutes in the lopsided win. No one played more than 30 minutes.
“We’ll be well-rested and in rhythm,” Kerr said. “There’s a big stretch coming.
“If we can beat Memphis, we get the tiebreaker over them, which is huge. We are right there with the Clippers, and the Lakers are only a couple (of games) ahead. It’s quite a race going down the stretch. Our last eight games are pretty tough. We are going to have to continue to play well.”
Said Kevon Looney: “Every game we’ve been playing has been important for the last 20 games, and these last seven or eight are going to be just as important. We know the opportunity we have in front of us. We have to make sure we capitalize.”
Kerr hopes Jonathan Kuminga, listed as questionable with a right pelvic contusion, is available for Tuesday’s contest. Kuminga averages 16.0 points and 4.6 rebounds off the bench.
“He is our highest plus-minus guy on the year,” Kerr said. “He doesn’t play a ton, but he plays a really important role. He comes in and he gets offensive boards and he moves the ball and he plays with great energy. He’s a difference maker.”
For the Grizzlies, they are trying to climb out of a late-season freefall. With Monday’s 117-103 loss to the visiting Boston Celtics, Memphis has dropped six of its past seven games to fall from second in West to fifth.
They’ve also lost 11 straight to teams with a .500 record or better. Since the All-Star break, the Grizzlies are 8-13.
On Friday, Memphis fired Taylor Jenkins, the franchise’s winningest coach, after nearly six seasons. Assistant Tuomas Iisalo was promoted to interim head coach the remainder of the season. His first two games as interim coach were against the Lakers on Saturday and the Celtics on Monday.
Iisalo said the Grizzlies were undone by poor offensive rebounding against the Celtics, but he praised the team’s overall effort.
“Everyone was kind of feeling each other out at the beginning of the Lakers’ game,” Iisalo said. “Guys were locked in from the first moment on (Monday). But it’s hard to win if you don’t put 48 minutes in on the defensive side of the court.
“We can be very satisfied with the effort and the team play. Guys are showing they are really playing for each other and sharing the ball.”
