FOUR losses in their last six is a pattern the Golden State Warriors aren’t used to. With Durant sidelined and Curry struggling to make a basket, for the first time in a long time the Dubs look mortal.

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FIRSTLY it is worth pointing out that the Warriors have played five of their last six games on the road, with all of them coming in the past 11 days. They also have a date with the Spurs in San Antonio tonight, so they have done their fair share of bouncing around from city to city over the last fortnight. That being said most of the teams they have lost to are ones who they would usually blow out of the water. It’s the first time in over three years that Golden State has lost four games in their last six games and in a sense it has to have alarm bells ringing.

WITH every loss Golden State slips closer to dangerously letting the #1 seed in the Western Conference go. Currently they are 52-13 with the San Antonio Spurs breathing down their neck at 50-14. As mentioned the Dubs play the Spurs tonight in San Antonio and could potentially hold a slim half game lead for the top rung in the West if they lose. Which makes Steve Kerr’s decision to rest arguably his four most important fit players Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala even more head scratching. You can see the benefits of resting his guys, and potentially keeping his cards close to his chest by not revealing the game plan to beat Gregg Popovich’s crew should they meet in the playoffs. But every Durant-less win is crucial for Golden State. Meeting a team like Denver or Portland (who are fighting for the eight seed at the moment) as apposed to falling into the 2nd seed and then facing the Memphis Grizzlies or Oklahoma City Thunder is a different ball game. Especially if they don’t have a healthy Kevin Durant.

GRANTED everyone still expects the Warriors to contend for the title and they remain the odds on favourite to raise the Larry O’Brien trophy in June. However there is now a cloud of uncertainty and drama surrounding the teams title aspirations for the first time in years. They are fast learning that life without Kevin Durant isn’t a walk in the park and in fact is much harder than they imagined. Golden State knew what they were giving up by signing Durant. They sacrificed their depth which was a strength of theirs throughout their past two dominant seasons to bring in the 2014 MVP, and just now are we seeing the side effects of such a move. If Durant remains our for the first round and the Warriors have to face OKC or Memphis anything could happen, let’s be honest those teams are hungry and competitive. Keeping the top seed is important for them and at this rate it looks like they are going to lose it to the Spurs. The alarm bells should be ringing, especially if Kevin Durant remains sidelined come playoff time.

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