The regular season is five days away. There is one more preseason game, a fifth and final opportunity for the Warriors to tune up and lock in before the games matter.
The last game, Friday against the Lakers at SAP Center in San Jose, will be useful. Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson don't need it but their healthy teammates do.
Here are two positives and two negatives in the wake of the fourth preseason game, a 123-113 loss to the Lakers on Wednesday night at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas:
The All-Stars are 75 percent ready
Curry, Durant and Thompson are ready to start the season. Right now.
[RATTO: The Lakers as a rival is the last thing the Warriors need right now]
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No Warrior has looked more up to the task, game in and game out, than Thompson. His shot is on target, his defense typically tight and his focus steady. After going 8-of-18 from the field, including 4-of-9 from deep, on Wednesday, he's shooting 54.3 percent overall and 56.5 percent from deep.
Curry and Durant aren't far behind, offensively, both shooting better than 55 percent from the field and exactly 50 percent beyond the arc.
Both, however, have had problems with turnovers. Curry has 13 assists and 11 turnovers, Durant 18 and 11. But these things usually get fixed in the real season.
Now they have to get the fourth All-Star, Draymond Green, back on the court. He'll be rusty, but they are poised to have his back.
McKinnie closes in on roster spot
The Warriors keep subbing in Alfonzo McKinnie in games, and he keeps proving he has something to offer. It was no different Wednesday night.
Playing 14 minutes off the bench, the 6-foot-7 wing delivered 10 points and four rebounds. In 56 preseason minutes, McKinnie has 26 points (12-of-22 shooting) and 18 rebounds. He'll get an NBA job, likely with the Warriors.
McKinnie, 26, has spent four years scouring the globe in search of a team. The Chicago native attended Eastern Illinois for two years before transferring to Wisconsin-Green Bay. He played professionally in Luxembourg and then Mexico. After a stint in the G-League, he got a sniff of the NBA last year with the Raptors.
The Warriors will trim the roster in the next 48 hours. McKinnie looks to be safe.
A truckload of gifts, courtesy of the Warriors
The Warriors committed a ghastly 25 turnovers, leading directly to 27 points for Los Angeles. That's an issue against any team. It's lethal against the Lakers.
"If you don't take care of the basketball, you're going to be in trouble because they're going to get out and run fast," Durant told reporters in Las Vegas. "They've got athletes, they've got playmakers and they've got shooters. They make you think. You've got to make the correct plays on the offensive side of the ball in order for you to slow them down."
The Warriors are averaging 18 turnovers per game, while forcing 17.2. That's not a formula that leads to a championship. It's one sure way for a player to find himself on the comic end of video review and critique.
Some of this may be chalked up to preseason trial-and-error exercises. This team goes through spells when it is prone to turnovers. This is, and always will be, a point of emphasis for the coaching staff.
The perils of Jacob and Jonas
Rookie guard Jacob Evans III was drafted for his court awareness and hoops IQ and maybe even make a few well-timed jump shots. Veteran forward Jonas Jerebko was brought in to provide scoring and spacing for the second unit.
Both, however, are struggling with basic parts of the game. Shooting.
Evans was 1-of-5 against the Lakers and is now 4-of-17 overall -- and 0-of-8 from beyond the arc. He is confident that his shot will start falling, but there is nothing to indicate that will happen soon.
Jerebko was 1-of-4 and is now 5-of-18 from the field. He's 3-of-8 from deep, which is what the Warriors really need. The bigger problem is that his timing seems off and he still gets lost in traffic. He had four turnovers in 14 minutes. Maybe it's joining a new team, but he has to fix that.
