Ranking Warriors' Most Important Games of 2022-23 NBA Regular Season
One down, 81 to go, right?
OK, so the Golden State Warriors won't actually run the table this season, but the NBA champions certainly looked the part on opening night. They weren't razor-sharp at either end, but they still rolled to a relatively comfortable 14-point triumph over the visiting Los Angeles Lakers.
Considering this was ring night for the Dubs and a televised tilt against a high-profile opponent, it was a nice win to start the 82-game trek, but there will be more important collisions down the line.
The following three games, ranked by significance, loom as the season's most important.
3. Dec. 13: at Milwaukee Bucks
Golden State's longest road trip of the campaign opens against one of the toughest matchups it will face all season.
This trip to Milwaukee, which kicks off a six-game journey that includes stops in Philadelphia, Toronto and Brooklyn, pits Golden State against perhaps the biggest challenger to its throne. After all, the Bucks won the 2021 title, then pushed the Boston Celtics to seven games in the 2022 conference semis despite losing Khris Middleton in the opening round.
Assuming the All-Star swingman makes it back by this point—he's still on the mend following offseason wrist surgery—the Bucks have everything they need to make the Warriors uncomfortable. They're big, physical and smart. Oh yeah, and they're steered by All-Galaxy megastar Giannis Antetokounmpo, who won consecutive MVPs in 2018-19 and 2019-20 and hasn't seen much of a production decline since.
If the Warriors are aiming for the West's No. 1 seed—they might not inclined to push too hard for it after winning the crown from the No. 3 slot last season—they'll probably need to fare well on this trip. Starting it out with a win in Wisconsin would be huge.
2. Dec. 25: vs. Memphis Grizzlies
Few teams pestered the Warriors quite like the way-ahead-of-schedule Grizzlies last season.
Memphis won the regular-season series by a 3-1 count and then gave Golden State all it could handle in the conference semis. While the Grizzlies lost that series 4-2, they lost MVP candidate Ja Morant midway through it and still found a way to hang a 39-point defeat on the Dubs in Game 5.
The Grizzlies are fearless—plus long, athletic and absolutely relentless. Memphis is talented enough to hang with elites but young enough to not get caught up in the moment. While the Warriors clearly aren't interested in any changing of the guard in the West, the Grizzlies are taking that fight right to them and trying to yank the baton out of their hands.
All of this should make for terrific drama on Christmas Day, even if Jaren Jackson Jr. doesn't make it back from a right foot procedure by then.
If the Warriors take care of business, they can create some separation in the West, as this contest opens a season-long eight-game homestand with a lot of winnable matchups on the docket.
1. March 15: at Los Angeles Clippers
While the West offers an array of potential threats to the Warriors, none looms as large as a full-strength Clippers.
Granted, there's no guarantee the league will actually see such a thing, as L.A. has been viciously attacked by the injury bug of late. Still, if the basketball gods give Steve Ballmer's bunch a break, the Clippers are stacked on paper and could be even better in practice.
If anyone has the wing depth to hang with Golden State's perimeter scorers, it's L.A. Obviously, the Kawhi Leonard-Paul George tandem stands out, but there are a slew of two-way contributors behind them, most of whom have the length to at least bother sharpshooters Stephen Curry and Jordan Poole.
Given all of the turmoil surrounding the Phoenix Suns, it's possible the Pacific Division and Western Conference are both decided by the Warriors-Clippers rivalry.
This is their final meeting of the season—and the start of a tricky five-game road–which could give it major meaning in terms of playoff tiebreakers.