Will The Real Warriors Team Please Stand Up?

On occasion, the Golden State Warriors look like a team well capable of sneaking into the playoffs as high as the number 6 seed in the Western Conference. Other times, it seems the Warriors aren't even capable of beating a Varsity high school squad. Which team is going to show up each night?

At 21-25 the Warriors have no consistency. They are a mediocre team, but in todays NBA Playoff picture, a team well below the .500 mark can easily sneak into the playoffs. They have some big wins in the season: They beat Dallas, in Dallas, 107-104; destroyed Detroit 111-79, beat Utah 91-78; they even beat San Antonio at home 111-102; they have also beaten Houston, New Jersey and Orlando...all playoff teams. But as nice as some of those wins seem, they have also blown some very winnable games. They have been beaten by bottom feeders in both the Western and Leastern Conferences. Some losses include: Milwaukee, Seattle, Sacramento, Memphis, and Atlanta. Everyone of those teams have records well below .500 and are beatable teams.

They recently pulled off one of the largest trades this season. They brought Steven Jackson and Al Harrington over from Indiana for Troy Murphy and Mike Dunleavy (also Ike Diagu and Kieth McCloud). It is expected that they will take a little time to mesh and start playing playoff caliber basketball.

I was at the game on Saturday night against Charlotte. The Bobcats were coming off of a huge win in LA against the Lakers and I fully expected them to bring it to the Warriors. I even put a bet on the Bobcats to cover the spread at +12 with a buddy of mine from KNBR. The wager was that if the Bobcats covered the spread, my buddy would have to wear all Giants gear at a Giants game (he is a huge A's fan, but hates the Giants). If the Warriors covered the spread, then I would have to wear A's gear to an A's game (I hate the A's) but that night the Warriors looked unstoppable against Charlotte in a blowout. Then last night I bet on the Warriors to beat the Atlanta Hawks, which is one of the worst teams in the league, and they looked like chumps.

So which team is going to show up? The team that dismantled a bad team like Charlotte, or a team that gets dominated by over 20 points like Atlanta did the other night? If they want to end one of the longest playoff droughts in NBA history the Warriors, especially GM Chris Mullin, better hope they start playing like they did on Saturday night.