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Month-long gauntlet will show if Warriors are true contenders or not originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO – Coach Steve Kerr on Tuesday used the word “daunting” when describing the Warriors’ upcoming schedule, a clearer admission of what his team is about to be up against as opposed to how he referred to their stretch of games, beginning Wednesday night against the No. 1-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder, after Golden State’s loss to the Brooklyn Nets the previous night.
“The schedule is the schedule,” Kerr said Monday following the Warriors’ 128-120 loss. “I don’t look ahead. There’s all kinds of hard games. A couple weeks ago we had OKC, Boston and Cleveland staring at us. It is what it is.
“You just play. We got to play better. Nothing else matters.”
All true statements. Kerr, his coaching staff and players only can go one game at a time.
The past, which in the Warriors’ case is two consecutive games of losing near-20-point leads in the third quarter only to lose to shorthanded rebuilding teams, is the past. The future will be written soon enough. And they already have faced an intimidating set of games this season during a five-game road trip that ended against the Celtics, Thunder and Cavaliers.
The Warriors went 2-1 in their toughest early-season test. Up to that point, they had been beating up on bottom-tier competition. Those wins on the road against the Celtics and Thunder are what opened eyes across the league.
Only now, the Warriors are staring at a slate that’s a month’s worth of games that can reveal if the whole really is greater than the sum of its parts. Golden State is opening the gates to a gauntlet. By the end of the calendar year, it should be pretty clear just how much of a contender these Warriors can be – if they’re fine as is, or if some shaking up is in store.
“What’s disappointing is the last two games were very winnable,” Kerr said Tuesday after Warriors practice. “Big leads, on the road in San Antonio and at home last night. Those are games we should close out, and obviously we’re facing a daunting schedule ahead.
“So, it’s…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/month-long-gauntlet-show-warriors-172358968.html
Author : NBC Sports BayArea
Publish date : 2024-11-27 17:23:00
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