Head coach Steve Kerr viewed the silence as a sign that his team wasn’t satisfied. Fresh off their first three-game win streak of the season, the Warriors knew they could play better. They’ll get the chance to see where they fit in the Western Conference hierarchy in coming days.
After three road games against the Lakers (Sunday), Trail Blazers (Wednesday) and Suns (Thursday), the Warriors have a week off for the All-Star break before playing the Clippers (March 11 at Staples Center), Jazz (March 14 at Chase Center) and the Lakers (March 15 at Chase Center). Those six games include matchups against five of the West’s top six teams.
At 19-15, the Warriors are seventh in the conference. Kerr hopes that their current three-game win streak, which took eight tries to secure, was a breakthrough of sorts.
Though the Warriors boast a top-5 defense and an MVP candidate in Stephen Curry, they spent much of the season’s first two months toiling through inconsistencies. The next half-dozen games — likely the hardest such stretch on the schedule — will show Golden State whether recent wins over the Knicks, Pacers and Hornets were an aberration or an indicator that it has finally figured out what was plaguing it.
“I think it’s going to be a good test for us to see how good of a team we are,” center Kevon Looney said. “We’ve had a lot of ups and downs throughout the season. … Now, we’ll see if we can string some wins together.”
The next six games could go a long way in helping determine whether the Warriors have to participate in a play-in tournament for the seventh and eighth seeds in the playoffs. To avoid that, Golden State must finish the season sixth or better in the West — a realistic goal given that only four games currently separate the fourth- and eighth-best teams.
Between now and the All-Star break, the Warriors have just one practice, on Tuesday, to remedy nagging issues. But in a season defined by testing, strange travel plans and fan-less games amid the coronavirus pandemic, teams have become accustomed to dealing with less preparation than normal.
“I don’t need to learn anything about the team now,” Kerr said. “I think I have a pretty good sense of exactly who we, are and what we need to do to continue to improve. The next three games (before the break) will be a difficult stretch, particularly the back-to-back in Portland and Phoenix.
“All three teams we’re facing are playoff teams, really good teams, so we just have to continue to do the things that have put us in the position we’re in right now, which are defending at a really high level, sharing the ball and creating some flow offensively.”
Connor Letourneau covers the Warriors for The San Francisco Chronicle. Email: cletourneau@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Con_Chron
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