Stephen A. Smith and Marcus Morris Sr. clash over Warriors’ postseason fate: "If I can get Rockets first in the playoffs, I'm feeling good"

The Golden State Warriors lost their outright spot in the playoffs after bowing to the LA Clippers in their final regular-season game on Sunday night. The Warriors will now have to go through the play-in tournament, as they fell to the seventh spot in the Western Conference with a 48-34 record.

On Monday, ESPN analysts Stephen A. Smith and Marcus Morris Sr. clashed over what should be the Warriors’ route in the postseason as they now have to face the eight-seeded Memphis Grizzlies in their first play-in game.

For Stephen A., the Warriors’ loss to the Clippers could cost them a deep playoff run, considering the injuries star players such as Steph Curry and Jimmy Butler got in their game against the Clippers.

“If you won yesterday’s game, it buys you a whole week of rest, and the ability to potentially recover from all of (the injuries), going up against Memphis, a relatively physical team,” Stephen A. said. “And let’s say, for example, Golden State won this game (against Memphis), and you are going up against Houston. How often are we going to sleep in Houston?...so I don’t like this at all.

Meanwhile, Morris Sr., who is a former player of the Clippers, believed the loss could prime the Warriors for a shot against the Rockets, whom he said were relatively inexperienced and could give the Warriors the least trouble, especially as a former championship squad.

"If I can get the Rockets first in the playoffs, I'm feeling good,” Morris said. “I think the Rockets have been a really good regular season team, (but) they need so many guys to play well to win. I’m just not rolling with that.”

The winner between the Grizzlies and the Warriors will face the Rockets in a best-of-seven first-round series, while the loser will have to take on the winner of the Sacramento Kings and the Dallas Mavericks play-in matchup for the final spot in the playoffs.

Aside from the number one seed, the West’s playoff picture was a close battle, as only 4.0 games separated the second-seed Rockets from the eighth-seed Grizzlies.

Warriors forward Draymond Green makes things clear about the team’s fatigue heading into the Play-In

Four-time champion and longtime Warriors forward Draymond Green is not worried about fatigue, despite missing an outright spot in the playoffs and having to play in the Play-In tournament.

“We'll be fine. We're not playing back-to-backs or anything. We’re not senior citizens, we're high-level basketball players. Even if we played tomorrow, we'll be alright, we trained all year for this,” Green said after the loss to the Clippers.

It will be the second straight time the Warriors are in the Play-In tournament after losing last year against the Sacramento Kings as the 10th seed in the regular season.

The Warriors look to redeem themselves against the Grizzlies after getting eliminated in 2021, also in the Play-In.