How long NBA offseason brought underdog Warriors together

How long NBA offseason brought underdog Warriors together originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO – One after another, they strolled into the Chase Center interview room radiating a similar vibe. It was as if they’d been coached. Or read the 2024-25 version of the “How to be an Ideal Warrior” handbook.

Nobody resorted to the old bromide – “there is no ‘I’ in team” – but the words coming off their tongues were more “we” than “me.”

Put another way, the esprit de corps was off the charts for the Warriors on Media Day.

Some of this is the result of Golden State having an exceptionally long offseason, 166 days of absolute freedom, plenty of time to hibernate, hydrate, hit the weights and rejuvenate. Some of the credit also traces back to the way the Warriors went out last season, a humiliating 24-point NBA Play-in Tournament loss to the Kings in Sacramento.

I asked Draymond Green how much he missed the intensity and stakes of the playoffs, and his answer was predictable:

“I missed it a lot,” he said. “I tend to play my best basketball that time of year.”

There is an evident desire among the incumbent Warriors to rinse away that distasteful finish in Sacramento and there was no shortage of energy and eagerness to get back to basketball and the brotherhood that can come with it. They will have plenty of both this week on the Oahu Island of Hawaii.

“I think we are ready and itching to get back,” Gary Payton II said.

“Early exit last year,” Trayce Jackson-Davis said. “Guys got time to rest. Guys got time off.

“Now we’re hungry.”

Stephen Curry, fully aware that his NBA years are numbered, expressed a sense of urgency that might only be felt by someone who has won every significant individual honor. Now, at age 36, his only interested in being a part of something special.

As in a team capable of making a serious run at another NBA Finals triumph, which would put him in the NBA’s ultra-exclusive Five-Ring Club. He is utterly uninterested in resting on his laurels and cashing seven-figure paychecks.

“It’s going to be fun from day one Tuesday when we hit the court and…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/long-nba-offseason-brought-underdog-153026911.html

Author : NBC Sports BayArea

Publish date : 2024-10-01 15:30:26

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