With Stephen Curry set to return, it’s now or never for the Golden State Warriors

As Stephen Curry is set to return from injury, it’s now or never for the Golden State Warriors. 

Roughly a month after suffering a lower leg injury, the Golden State Warriors are optimistic that Stephen Curry will be able to make his return to the lineup for the team in the next week. Specifically, it was reported that the Warriors are hopeful Curry returns during the team’s three-game road trip next week.

The Warriors will go on the road, beginning Sunday to face the Los Angeles Lakers, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Memphis Grizzlies. The belief is that Curry will make his return from injury in one of those games.

Since his injury, the Warriors have managed to survive with a 5-4 record. With just 20 games left on their schedule, it’s now or never for the Warriors. If they’re going to “flip the switch” heading into the postseason, it must happen soon and quickly. Golden State is currently in the fifth seed of the Western Conference standings but just one game (in the loss column) back of the fourth-seeded LA Clippers.

With Curry returning, it wouldn’t be outlandish to suggest that the Warriors could go on a bit of a run and get hot heading into the final few weeks of the season.

Can the Golden State Warriors take advantage of a wide-open Western Conference?

The Western Conference playoff race has been interesting. Aside from the Denver Nuggets, it’s hard to pinpoint another team that has been dominant this season. It was looking like the Memphis Grizzlies were going to be that consistent threat, but they’ve run into a wall a bit over the last few weeks.

And now, even the Grizzlies are somewhat of an unknown heading into the playoffs.

The Dallas Mavericks haven’t been as good as originally thought with Kyrie Irving and the Phoenix Suns are just now trying to gel with Kevin Durant finally returning from injury. With LeBron James out for a few weeks, the Los Angeles Lakers might’ve been eliminated despite the impressive moves they made at the NBA Trade Deadline and I’m not sure where the LA Clippers stand after the head-scratching move of willingly adding Russell Westbrook to the rotation.

The Sacramento Kings have been a good story but I’m not sure anyone will trust them once the playoffs come around. If the Warriors can begin to play better – and perhaps most importantly, more consistent – basketball, there’s no question that they could take advantage of a conference that has been anything but consistent.

The West seems to be open for the taking. Could this be the opportunity that the Warriors need to finally right the ship?