SAN FRANCISCO — The Golden State Warriors fell a season-worst five games below .500 less than six weeks ago. Draymond Green only returned from his indefinite suspension shortly before then, and Steve Kerr didn't stumble upon his team's entrenched starting lineup and rotational fixtures until just before the All-Star break. The Warriors are still mourning beloved assistant coach Dejan Milojevic, who tragically passed away on January 17th.

As a tumultuous regular season marked most by personal tragedy but also broad-scale basketball upheaval enters its stretch run, though, Golden State isn't just still standing. Even coming off Sunday's historic blowout loss to the league-leading Boston Celtics, the Dubs are thriving at exactly the right time—team-wide success derived most from an unwavering mindset of collective strength and commitment.

“Our whole team is [in a great frame of mind], really,” Kerr said before Wednesday's home matchup with the Milwaukee Bucks. “I'm very proud of the group for dealing with a lot of adversity this year and staying with it, and continuing to support one another.”

The Warriors enter their battle with the Bucks at 32-28, good for tenth-place in a loaded Western Conference. They're just three games back of the Phoenix Suns in sixth, though, and would be virtually guaranteed a spot in the play-in tournament even if their season-altering performance of late wasn't quite so stellar. Golden State stands five games ahead of the Utah Jazz and five-and-a-half in front of the Houston Rockets with 22 left to play.

The Dubs are still a long way from proving themselves as legitimate title contenders. Those dire early-season labors—brought on most by a now-defunct starting five and Green's multiple suspensions—will prevent them from reaching that status among the basketball masses until they advance past the play-in tournament or take a game off one of the West's top seeds in the first round of the playoffs, and rightfully so.

But it's a testament to the scale of Golden State's dramatic midseason turnaround that still-optimistic development even seems possible. The Warriors were pretty much counted out entirely barely more than a month ago. As the playoffs soon dawn, they'll at least be the team no one wants to see in April—if not the true postseason threat the surging Dubs have played like since late January.