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Brandin Podziemski, Golden State Warriors

The Golden State Warriors are set for a matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies after finishing as the seventh seed in the Western Conference.

Steve Kerr’s team fell to the LA Clippers on Sunday, April 13, killing their hopes of directly qualifying for the playoffs. This time last season, the Warriors faced the Sacramento Kings in the play-in tournament and were eliminated from postseason contention.

However, sophomore wing Brandin Podziemski is remaining optimistic. During a postgame news conference on April 13, he reminded the world that Golden State has both Jimmy Butler and Stephen Curry on its roster.

“I don’t know how you can be any more confident,” Podziemski said. “I don’t know if there’s any one person (Butler) in a play-in situation that you would want on your team. Maybe Steph and we have both of them. So, the confidence is there. You know him and Steph are going to produce.”

The Warriors have been a different team since acquiring Butler at the Feb. 6 trade deadline. They have every reason to remain confident as they gear up for a game against Memphis, especially after Taylor Jenkins was recently fired by the franchise.

Still, the Warriors will undoubtedly be keen to avoid the mistakes of last season. As such, we should expect them to be aggressive on both sides of the ball.

Warriors’ Draymond Green Remains Confident

Despite smoking a layup late in overtime, Draymond Green is remaining confident about the Warriors’ chances. The veteran forward shared the reasons for his optimistic outlook during his postgame news conference.

“We’ll be fine,” Green said. “…We’ll be alright. We’re not senior citizens. We’re high-level basketball players…We train all year for this… No disrespect to the senior citizens, by the way. We love our senior citizens.”

The Warriors have a strong blend of veteran experience and youthful exuberance on the roster. They will undoubtedly be hoping the younger legs of Podziemski and Moses Moody can help keep them within touching distance of beating the Grizzlies and qualifying for the playoffs.

Stephen Curry Looks to Learn From Jimmy Butler

Butler has found success via the play-in tournament over the past few years. In fact, he helped lead the Miami Heat to an NBA Finals appearance in 2023, despite starting the postseason as a play-in team.

During his postgame press conference, Stephen Curry admitted that the Warriors can learn from Butler’s previous success,

“We joked about that last week,” Curry said. “He (Jimmy) went into the play-in packing for two months, so we would love to have that opportunity. What we can learn is that we need to win. We haven’t had a good outcome in play-in. I can remember each one of them, vividly.”

The Warriors’ roster is highly experienced when playing in high-pressure situations. Curry, Green, Kevon Looney, and Butler have all enjoyed certain levels of postseason success. As such, they will likely lean on that experience to overcome the Grizzlies and qualify for the playoffs.

Of course, Golden State is unlikely to take things for granted. Still, their confidence is born out of experience and talent, and they will likely be favorites heading into their match-up against Memphis.