The Warriors' goal for the second half of the 2024-25 NBA regular season is ... to do exactly the opposite of what they did Wednesday night against the Dallas Mavericks.
Golden State's mistaken-driven loss was preventable, but even more painful against a Western Conference team given that it could be looked back at and pointed to should the Warriors miss the playoffs.
Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy shared the team's emphasis with the trade deadline in the rearview and the second half of action upcoming after the NBA All-Star break.
"I think right now where we stand, we've kind of talked about it, the playoffs begin now," Dunleavy said Thursday on 95.7 The Game's "Steiny & Guru." "Every night matters. Last night, it felt like losing Game 5 on the road in a playoff series. That's how it's going to be for the next 28, 30 games, however many we have left. Every night matters. These standings are so tight.
"Usually every night you're playing the standings but you may be playing a tiebreaker. Last night was a tiebreaker game for us against the Mavericks. These games are counting double. I would hope everybody understands that -- feels that. The players, the coaches, we got to be in playoff mode. That's the situation we've put ourselves in right now with [losing] some of theses games throughout the year which have been really, really disappointing."
The Warriors' early mistakes against the Mavericks doomed their chance of coming on top of a very winnable game on the road.
They fell back to .500 with a 27-27 record and 10th in the West. Meanwhile, the new-look Mavericks improved to 29-26 and three games above .500 while sitting at the No. 8 spot.
Golden State Warriors
Both teams would be in the NBA Play-In Tournament if the season ended last night, but there's still a lot of basketball to be played as the stakes only increase the rest of the way. The good thing is that pressure is almost a second power to Warriors stars Steph Curry and Jimmy Butler, who typically have thrived when the stakes get higher.
"If you like the playoffs, you might as well get it started early," Dunleavy said.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
There's no room to make mistakes. The time is now for the Warriors.
