LOS ANGELES >> The Warriors are on a mission to play beyond April 7. More specifically, though, the goal should be to avoid the play-in tournament at all costs.

The Warriors (29-29) are stuck in play-in purgatory with only 24 games left of the regular season. FiveThirtyEight gives the Warriors a 72% chance of making the playoffs and a 5% chance of winning it all. While they have the 13th-best odds of making the postseason, they are still a top-seven favorite to claim the title.

Nothing about this season suggests a prolonged win streak is coming, though. The Warriors are projected by FiveThirtyEight to finish 43-39, tied for the Western Conference’s sixth and final playoff spot. The Warriors hold the belief that if they are healthy come playoff time, they have a shot in any seven-game series. But they’ve been far too inconsistent this season to take their chances in a win-or-go-home scenario that they could face in the play-in tournament.

The Warriors are currently in ninth place and would need to leap three teams to make the playoffs outright. They’re a game behind the Dallas Mavericks, who are in sixth, and 2 1/2 games out of fourth place, which belongs to the Los Angeles Clippers.

Securing a top-six seed in the West is doable, but the Warriors will need to play a lot better in this final seven-week stretch than they did in the first four months of the season.

The Warriors will play six games — all against Western Conference foes — in nine days out of the break, starting Thursday against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Here are some questions the Warriors must answer:

Can Golden State improve its defense? >> The Warriors have lost too many close games this season because they were unable to get enough stops down the stretch. That’s why fixing their janky defense continues to be the biggest concern for coach Steve Kerr and his staff.

Golden State’s past title runs have always been powered by its lock-down defense, but this year, the Warriors have posted their worst defensive rating in Draymond Green’s tenure.

Point-of-attack defense is the Warriors’ biggest problem. Opponents have had a heyday with Golden State’s foul trouble and slow rotations, which have led to open lanes or uncontested 3s.

The Warriors went out and got a strong defender in Gary Payton II at the trade deadline. It cost them No. 2 overall pick James Wiseman, who was shipped to Detroit. But Payton won’t be making an impact anytime soon as he’s sidelined for at least a month with a core injury.

Of course, Wiggins rediscovering his flow would improve the team’s defense. But the problem stems beyond just one player. It will take the whole team to buckle down and stay engaged on that side of the ball. Basketball, after all, is a possession game.

Will Jordan Poole turn it up a notch? >> What the Warriors need from Poole most now is consistency and focus on both ends of the court.

Poole is averaging 20.9 points, 4.5 assists and 2.8 rebounds, joining Kevon Looney as the only Warriors to play in every game so far this season. Poole’s offensive production and playmaking have been solid, but he needs to curb his turnover problem.

Turnovers have been a team-wide problem — they average 16.4 per game — but Poole has been the biggest culprit, committing 58 more than anyone else on the team.