The Warriors were already in the midst of a daunting East Coast road trip before mechanical issues grounded their plane Monday night in Indiana. After taking down the Pacers in a close 102-100 win, Golden State was forced to sleep in Indianapolis despite having the second leg of a back-to-back on Tuesday against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
As the Warriors were mid-flight Tuesday morning, president of basketball operations and general manager Bob Myers joined 95.7 The Game’s “The Morning Roast: Executive Show” for his bi-weekly appearance. Myers discussed the travel problems and how they might affect the Warriors. Listen to the full interview below.
“It’s not what you exactly want, playing the same day as travel,” Myers told hosts Bonta Hill and Joe Shasky. “But I was talking to [coach] Steve [Kerr] last night and he said, ‘Hey this is what we used to do. But we flew United commercial.’ If I got Jerry West on the phone, he’d tell me they’d play back-to-back-to-back and they flew coach, the whole thing. So, modern-day problem. But they’ll be here and it’ll be fun.”
Throughout the ordeal, Draymond Green kept people updated on the team’s progress and setbacks.
According to The Athletic’s Anthony Slater, the Warriors were scheduled to land in NYC around 12:30 p.m. local time, merely seven hours before the tip-off against the Knicks. Though the NBA has tried to reduce any instances of games/same-day travel, Myers said the team doesn’t have major injury concerns heading into Tuesday night’s matchup.
“Dangerous is a strong word,” Myers said. “If we felt it was, we wouldn’t play anybody. You don’t have the same recovery, you’re going places, you’re not in quite the best physical condition when you land on the plane and go right to something. But our trainers are great, our medical staff is great. They’ll get the guys ready to compete. Back-to-backs by themselves are difficult. Guys know how to take care of their bodies.”
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Steph Curry arrives in The Big Apple needing just two 3-pointers to break Ray Allen’s all-time record of 2,973. Myers said he’ll be in attendance as Curry is expected to make NBA history.
“I’m not sure a lot of people knew this and could have projected this,” Myers said. “But he’s kind of done it, each year getting a little bit better and proving more people wrong. Now it’s grown into this culmination of tonight, New York City. I tell people that wanna listen, what I see in him that maybe others don’t is his work. People think he just shows up and shoots threes. The guy works as hard as anybody in their profession.”
