OAKLAND, Calif. – The Golden State Warriors are a "no-excuse basketball team," as coach Mark Jackson loves to say. But they are suddenly looking like a worn-down and banged-up bunch at the most pivotal point of the season.
The Warriors (45-28) began Monday in sixth place in the tight Western Conference standings with nine games remaining. While they were only two games back of fifth-place Portland, they were also just two games from being out of the playoff picture as they head to Dallas and San Antonio.
Andrew Bogut and David Lee are out with injuries. Andre Iguodala has acknowledged that the tendinitis in his right knee is something he's going to have to deal with, and Jermaine O'Neal is coping with pain in his surgically repaired right wrist and knees.
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