I’m a firm believer that until your team hits the 38 mark in the loss column you aren’t out of the playoff picture during the NBA season. The Warriors have 29 losses, so there isn’t a lot of room for error after the All-Star break, but I’m not giving up on them especially with the West is as open as it’s been for years. It’s up for debate on whether Portland, New Orleans, Denver, or Utah can hold on to the 5-8 spots in the West especially with injuries, coaching changes, and trades lingering for all these teams. By my count on my playoff loss barometer of 38 losses only Sacramento and Minnesota are truly out of the playoff picture with the LA Clippers having 35 losses, they should be the next team out of the picture, which leaves 8 teams including the Warriors for those last four spots.  The Warriors are 4 games out of the eighth spot, but only 5 ½ away from the 5^th spot. The Warriors have been playing some great basketball over the last couple of weeks aside from the two games they played against the Suns where they could’ve sent a D-league team on the court in their place and done just as good. During their recent solid streak of play they beat Chicago, New Orleans, OKC, Utah (twice), and Denver over a ten game stretch, which were all quality wins in my book. So, I figured now would be the best time to handicap the rest of the year going through each game deciding if they’d win or lose. I gave them a few big wins along the way, and a couple of losses to bad teams and teams who I know they have trouble against. Continue reading