Warriors have reached a new low
By Ian Levy
The Golden State Warriors are in a deep hole. After losing consecutive games for the first time all season, both by 20-plus points, the Warriors now staring down an unlikely elimination at the hands of the Oklahoma City Thunder. What has been startling is not just that the Warriors are losing, but the size of the margins. As I pointed out earlier this week, in Game 3 the Warriors trailed by 20 or more points for about half as long as they did during the entire regular season. A rolling five-game average of their margin of victory would be in the negative for just the second time this entire season — the other occasion was on February 24 when a 32-point loss to the Portland Trail Blazers were grouped with a handful of single-digit wins.
If we look at a graph of the Warriors point differential by game this season it’s remarkable who far things have fallen in these last two games.
With this full season picture we are reminded that it is not just these last two blowout losses. The Warriors have actually lost four of their last seven games, going back to Game 3 against the Portland Trail Blazers. Over those seven games their total point differential is -32, or about -4.5 per game. Their FiveThirtyEight Elo Ranking is currently 1767, one point higher than it was after their April 5 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves and lower than it has been at any other point since their third game of the season. Elo is a cumulative ranking, reset at the beginning of each season, and in the estimation of this system the Warriors have basically dropped all the credit they earned with a record-breaking season.
The Warriors are not finished yet but they have dug themselves an enormous hole to climb out from. It certainly doesn’t help that Russell Westbrook, Steven Adams, Andre Roberson, and Kevin Durant are standing above them, shoveling dirt in as fast they can.