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USATSI

When it comes to the Golden State WarriorsWarriors playoff prospects, Klay Thompson is pretty confident. 

"I don't see a team who can beat us in a seven-game series when we're healthy," Thompson said of the situation.   

In order to reach their full potential as a team, though, the Warriors need to do three things in Thompson's eyes. Those things are taking care of the basketball, having a good collective shot selection, and communicating on defense. If Golden State can do those three things, Thompson is bullish on the team's chances of repeating as NBA champions. 

"I will say we have to value the ball more, take great shots and communicate on defense," Thompson said. "... So if we do those three things going forward, I think we'll be in a great position to repeat."   

As four-time champions, Thompson and the Warriors certainly have reason to feel confident heading into postseason play. After all, no team across the league's landscape can match Golden State when it comes to postseason experience. But, thanks largely to a rough road record, the Warriors are further down in the Western Conference standings than they were last season, and thus they have to wait until the last day of the regular season to find out if they'll finish with a top six seed in the West, or if they'll be forced to compete in the play-in tournament -- something they'd understandably like to avoid. 

"We definitely want to stay out of the play-in tournament," Stephen Curry said late last month. "You never know how that can go -- a single game here or there."

The Warriors know from experience just how tough the play-in tournament can be, as their season ended with a loss to Memphis in the play-in in 2021. 

"That is dangerous," Draymond Green said of the play-in tournament. "We'd much rather avoid that."   

Regardless of where they finish in the standings, the Warriors project to be an extremely formidable playoff opponent for any team, especially with forward Andrew Wiggins expected to return for postseason play. Given their firepower and experience, it seems safe to say that no team in the West will be too excited about facing off against the defending champs in the playoffs.