Pacific Division

Golden State Warriors Power Rankings - 2012-13

Power Ranking
WEEKRECORDRANKCOMMENT
Week 2445-3512They made the playoffs when few said they would and happily watched Steph Curry torch suggestions that a $44 million contract was too big a risk. Not ready to say they're better than the We Believe team in 2007, or even as entertaining, but Curry alone gets you asking those questions.
Week 2344-3312Guest comment from Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News after the Dubs, on a 9-3 surge, abruptly lost at home Sunday night to a Utah team sporting an 11-27 road record: "The Warriors have had a strong regular season, but the playoffs just sorta started and they weren't ready."
Week 2242-3211Wichita State in the Final Four? While the Dubs are picking up their D and threatening to lock up the West's No. 6 seed despite that dreadful home loss Wednesday to Sacramento, the one and only Ray Ridder, Warriors PR man extraordinaire and proud Shocker, might just self-combust.
Week 2140-3111They're only 6-15 on the road since Jan. 1. And Steph Curry faces yet another ankle problem. So they're by no means playoff-safe even with that home-heavy schedule. Yet we can safely say, one year removed from Dubs fans booing new owner Joe Lacob, that the mood has brightened. Lots.
Week 2038-3011The Warriors, I'd say, had their revenge for Houston's hailstorm of 3s on Feb. 5 with the 30-point rout they just inflicted on the Rockets. They also still have that home-heavy closing schedule that, even after this 8-13 slump, makes it hard to see 'em slipping all the way out of the top eight.
Week 1935-2915David Lee hasn't been the same player since his All-Star berth (thanks partly to an ailing knee) and the Warriors, not coincidentally, have gone 4-12 since that 30-17 start that helped make Lee their first All-Star since Spree. It'll take more than a favorable schedule to keep 'em in the top eight.
Week 1833-2713The Dubs just wrapped up 14 of 19 games on the road and close with 16 of their final 22 games at home. So they're probably not as catchable as they've looked lately, with Steph Curry becoming just the third player in 17 seasons to average 36-plus points over a four-game span and lose 'em all.
Week 1733-239Raise your hands: Who thought that a six-game skid, combined with word that Andrew Bogut (back) is ailing anew, put the Dubs at risk for getting dragged into the Lakers' sights in the race for No. 8 out West? That's why Golden State's first victory over the Spurs since 2008 was so big.
Week 1630-2213The first half's feel-good story ended on the sourest of notes, thanks to five straight L's and an average of 118 points allowed per L. The Dubs' first playoff berth since 2007 seems safe, but home-court advantage aspirations are long gone. (Jack Winter, Warriors World)
Week 1530-218So much for prosperity. After Andrew Bogut's return vaulted the Dubs into the uppermost crust of these rankings last Monday, their ensuing 0-4 road trip -- after Golden State had gone .500 or better on every previous multigame trip this season -- made it a very short stay in the top five.
Week 1430-175Relief for grieving 49ers fans: Andrew Bogut is back and just sparked a 4-0 week for a team that made it through January with a .600-plus winning percentage for only the second time in (whoa) 35 seasons. Just in time, too, with the Dubs' better-than-expected rebounding starting to slip.
Week 1326-178David Lee, All-Star! So we've lost one of our go-to comments; lost count of how often over the years we've referenced the Dubs' drought dating to Spree in 1997. Lee, by the way, is up to 27 double-doubles for the only team this season to beat the Clips, Heat and OKC, second only to Z-Bo's 28.
Week 1224-1511Glass-half-empty: Steph Curry's three-month run with no ankle woes is over and Denver looks primed to bump the Dubs down to sixth in the West. Glass-half-full: Curry missed only two games, he or David Lee should be an All-Star by week's end and Andrew Bogut's return is inching closer.
Week 1123-138The Warriors' postseason dreams might very well hinge on the 11 road dates in a span of 17 games that began with Sunday's loss at Denver. If they can hang in there until March, 16 of the final 22 games are at home for the Dubs to try to lock up playoff berth No. 2 in the past 19 seasons.
Week 1022-114The main knock on the Dubs is that their glorious December came almost exclusively at the expense of teams from the overmatched East. Yet you also can't deny, even if the schedule helped out some last week, that Golden State is the only team going with two wins over the Clips.
Week 921-105Four of the Dubs' past five opponents shot 40 percent or worse from the floor. The Dubs went 12-4 in December to record the finest December in the franchise's Bay Area history. The Dubs have also reached the 20-win plateau before Jan. 1 for the first time since 1980-81. The Dubs, people!
Week 818-109David Lee is assembling a legit All-Star case for a franchise that hasn't had an All-Star since Latrell Sprewell in 1997. But first let's see how the Dubs, after reaching darling status, respond to the first real heartbreaks of their great start: Last week's painful endings against the Kings and Lakers.
Week 716-87The Dubs just finished the best road trip in team history, posting wins in Miami, Brooklyn and Atlanta for a 6-1 finish. And with 10 road Ws already, Golden State needs just one more to top its total from the last three non-lockout seasons (10, 8, 8). As for David Lee's heroics ... click here.
Week 613-79Steph Curry is making his $44 million contract extension look like a bargain. The Dubs continue to be a quality defensive team and an upper-echeleon rebounding team without Andrew Bogut. And now they've got more road wins -- seven -- than any team in the league outside of San Antonio.
Week 510-611Who knew? Who knew that the Andrew Bogut saga would get so drawn out and messy? Who knew, furthermore, that the Dubs could win 10 games this quickly on the strength of big improvements defensively -- and especially on the boards -- when those are two of Bogut's specialties?
Week 48-614Didn't see this coming, frankly. Despite playing eight of their first 14 games on the road -- and playing them, for the most part, without the injured Andrew Bogut and Brandon Rush -- Golden State has matched its best start to this point since the "We Believe" Warriors went 8-6 in 2006-07.
Week 35-519He'll be lucky to finish third in ROY voting, but Harrison Barnes is quickly winning admirers in the Bay Area. When the Dubs want to distract themselves from the wait for Andrew Bogut or the loss of Brandon Rush, they focus on breakthroughs like Barnes' 19 & 13 in a home W over Atlanta.
Week 23-422Instead of keeping the focus on Carl Landry and what a bargain he's been, how can you expect us to think or talk about anything else here but the latest Andrew Bogut news? Two editions of the rankings into the regular season and the Dubs have lost Bogut and Brandon Rush to injury.
Week 12-119Even though the Brandon Rush ACL tear has the Dubs cursing their injury luck already, it's been a pretty promising start. Hard to ignore just their second 2-0 road record in 18 years, Carl Landry's big numbers off the bench and what could be a bargain extension with Steph Curry.
Preseason0-019Our friends at Bovada.lv list the over/under on games played this season at 60.5 for Steph Curry and 52.5 for Andrew Bogut. The Dubs obviously have to see the over in both cases -- well over -- if they hope to see the playoffs for just the second time in 19 seasons.
Training Camp23-4317New management has overhauled so much, but the expectation that something (most likely health) will go awry lives on. So let's see if the Dubs -- deepest roster since 2007's We Believe squad -- with Bogut, Curry and D-Lee ready to the start the season -- can hush the doomsayers for once.

Golden State Warriors