Things were looking rosy for the Golden State Warriors once they acquired six-time All-Star forward Jimmy Butler early last month. They promptly went on a stretch during which they won 16 of 19 games, and they were starting to look like dark-horse championship contenders.

But they have now lost two games in a row to the Atlanta Hawks and Miami Heat, two mediocre squads they should’ve defeated. They’re clinging to sixth place in the Western Conference with a 41-31 record, and they’re dangerously close to having to go through the play-in tournament to make the playoffs.

Golden State will visit the New Orleans Pelicans, who have the second-worst record in the West on Friday. One may assume that the team will get an easy win in that game, but head coach Steve Kerr actually feels it will be a much bigger contest than it may seem.

“ … I think Friday is the biggest game of the year for us,” Kerr told reporters after the Warriors loss on Tuesday.

“We’ve lost two games in a row, very poor performances. It’s time. We got to bounce back, and that’s what good teams do. And I’m confident that we will do that.”

Granted, Stephen Curry has been ailing lately — Kerr said he was “tired” and “exhausted” after going 6-of-21 in a loss to a short-handed Denver Nuggets team last Monday — and he missed Tuesday’s game with a pelvis injury.

But a team with Butler, not to mention solid complementary players throughout its roster, shouldn’t lose to mediocre teams such as Atlanta or Miami.

The Warriors missed the playoffs last season, and if they were to miss the playoffs again this season, there would be plenty of negative energy in the San Francisco Bay Area for months to come.