It just doesn’t run at the Golden State Warriors right now. The reigning champion had to accept the third defeat in a row with a 92:104 defeat against San Antonio Spurs. For Steve Kerr, it is the most difficult phase in his career as a Warriors coach.
“Oh, yes,” the 53-year-old confirmed this presumption of a journalist, after the Warriors’ negative trend had continued against the Spurs with the fifth defeat from the past seven games.
“But we’ve really had a dream run over the last four and a half years. This is now the most difficult phase we have been through,” explained Kerr. “This is the real NBA. We haven’t been in the real NBA in years. We were in a dream.”
From this dream the Dubs have now been awakened relatively rudely. After some solid bankruptcies against the Bucks, Clippers, Rockets, Mavericks and Spurs, Golden State are still with an acceptable record of 12 wins in 6 defeats, but the dominant team of the past few years has recently appeared vulnerable.
Especially when it comes to shooting, the Dubs currently have enormous problems. On the one hand the absence of Stephen Curry, who has to pause at least until November 24 due to groin problems, is painfully noticeable, on the other hand Kevin Durant or Klay Thompson are far from their normal form.
Against San Antonio, the two of them only sank 4 out of 19 from a distance, the strong comeback of the guests in the fourth quarter could not bring Golden State to a glamorous end due to the weaknesses of downtown.
“The teams know what we want to do. That’s why they’re trying to push us within the three-way line,” Durant analyzed the opponents’ defensive strategy. Without curry and the also injured Draymond Green (sprained toe) there would be less space in the offense. That makes it a lot harder for KD or Thompson.
“We rely heavily on them for scoring, especially since Steph isn’t there,” Kerr admitted. “But we need to find our identity back: great ball move, really good defense, transition. That’s easier said than done, but that’s how we did it for years.”
“This isn’t rocket science. You go out, you’re aggressive and you do what you’ve done all your career,” Thompson said while setting the course for the upcoming game against Oklahoma City Thunder.
So there doesn’t seem to be too much concern in the Bay Area yet, even though coach Kerr stresses: “We’re facing real difficulties and we have to get out of it ourselves”.
The chances that the Warriors will succeed sooner or later are quite good considering the enormous talent in the team. Thompson is confident that the 2015, 2017 and 2018 champion will regain his former strength: “Fortunately it’s not April yet, it’s November. So we’re gonna get a lot better.”