Ninety minutes before tip on Friday afternoon, Steve Kerr walked into his usual pregame press conference with his head held high. The media wouldn’t have known his Golden State Warriors took a second-half hurting in Los Angeles less than 24 hours prior unless they saw it (they did).
“When we’re healthy and clicking, we can beat anybody,” said the four-time champion head coach. “We just haven’t been healthy.”
Hence, the now 30-30 Warriors haven’t recently been allowed to click. Injuries, absences, and adversity have been the theme for the defending champions.
Golden State is now .500 for the 17th time in 2022-23. They have never been more than four games above or below .500 all season. The Warriors are the National Basketball Association's most consistently inconsistent team. While confidence has waned among the Warriors fans and its critics, the team has been outwardly unwavering. Only the postseason will reveal whether it is self-hypnosis or not.
The reasoning for confidence has been cited repeatedly by those inside and outside the organization: the championship core. Kerr cited his starting five as owning the league's best plus-minus. The issue remains that Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green, and Kevon Looney have all only played in 27 of 60 games and haven’t seen the court together since Feb. 5.
“If we can get healthy down the stretch then we feel like we can make our run,” said Kerr after the win against Houston.
That is also their only option.
The Warriors did what they are ideally trying to do this season, last season. Yet, even before injuries hurt Golden State a season ago, they had demonstrated – at full strength – they could WIN across stretches of games, not minutes. Last year’s title team rattled off eight winning streaks (three games or more). In 2022-23, the Warriors have put together just two winning streaks. Eight wins in an 11-game stretch between November and early December is the best example of sustained excellence. Come playoff time, the Warriors will have to sustain (and perhaps, elevate) that level for the better part of two months.
If you believe wholeheartedly in playoff pedigree, then Golden State is fine. If you think each season is its own entity, then the Warriors are in trouble. Both detractors and supporters have reason to count them in or out.
“We’re hanging in and that’s the point,” explained Kerr on Friday. “We got to get there and getting there means we’re going to have to win every game we can until the reinforcements are back.”
Those reinforcements are their two best players from the most recent NBA Finals. The Warriors are treading water without an injured Curry (knee) and absent Wiggins (personal reasons). Individually great games can help this team swim. Without one, they will sink. Concern coursed through Chase Center until Thompson’s 12 3-pointer performance Friday calmed it. Winning each game until reinforcements arrive is a tougher task for this group than any in the past decade. More importantly, there’s little room for error. Losing four of five could move a team four or five spots in this Western Conference. That might mean a play-in tournament appearance or missing the playoffs entirely.
The timeline to health is as foggy as a Bay Area morning. Each update is clouded by vagueness. Curry's injury will be re-evaluated soon. Until then, everyone must sit tight. Wiggins’ absence is more perplexing but clearly serious. The team continues to respect his privacy and everyone should follow suit. Neither makes this current team easier to watch. You cannot window-dress a half-full boutique and expect its onlookers to be impressed. It’s missing parts, just like Golden State.
Still, the championship pedigree is keeping the Warriors' hopes alive. The hope of rounding into form, finding the magic, and doing what is becoming increasingly more difficult the closer the playoffs get: running the table. Kerr’s confidence does not seem impaired. Neither does Thompson’s, whether he is setting shooting records – the first player to record three games with 12+ three-pointers – or failing to find the net. Golden State and its fanbase are clinging to past greatness and present glimpses, longing for a luxurious future. Is that so wrong? No, but all forms of finish to this season are on the table. Expect the unexpected.
