Guys, Stop Picking On The Warriors OK?
(ESPN) - Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr remains optimistic about his team’s future despite the fact that his group has suffered some blowout home loses, including Tuesday night’s 127-101 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.
“The bar’s been set high,” Kerr said after Wednesday’s practice. “I told our guys that; I gave them that line today. You guys have set the bar really high. So everything takes on a little greater sense of urgency in terms of what happens around the team. We’re maybe the most scrutinized team in the history of the league. We’re right there with the Bulls teams that I played on. I felt the same, but even more so now because of the number of media outlets and the immediacy of the judgement and criticism. So it’s all part of it; our guys have learned how to deal with all of that over the past few years. It doesn’t matter. What matters is how you respond to a bad loss, to a bad stretch, to injuries. As long as you keep responding, keep showing up to work, keep sticking together, keep working, good things are going to happen. That’s what I believe with this group.”
Kerr’s optimism stems from the fact that his proud group has been through all kinds of ups and downs over the past five seasons since he became head coach. Still, this season has been challenging for a variety of reasons, as Kerr and the Warriors have suffered five losses of 20 or more points for the first time in the Kerr era, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
There are a lot of reasons to be annoyed with the Warriors, maybe it’s because they are so dominant, maybe it’s because their style of play changed the league forever, but for me it’s stuff like this. For example on Opening Night how they talked about how weird it was to get another ring when you’re trying to focus on the new season. Just shut the fuck up. Oh really the Warriors are scrutinized? No shit, they’re the best team in the league. That happens with every all time great, why would the Warriors think things would be any different? Guess what, even though everyone knows they’ll be there in June, that doesn’t mean that when things happen over the course of the season that it’s not a story. I don’t see the Warriors complaining when the coverage is positive, so give me a break with this. You read further in that story and you see quotes like this from KD
“I mean, they just need new content. So it’s a long season. If you got a job that you got to work at every day covering basketball, you need something outside of the norm, know what I mean? “
Then he goes on to talk about how he doesn’t really care what the media says. What? Of course he cares, he probably cares more than anyone what people say about him on the internet. Nobody is making up drama because it’s a long season. When things happen with this team obviously people are going to write about it, just like they do with any other high profile figure/team in the league. I’m not seeing the problem.
Listen when the Warriors struggle, like they have in each of their 4 home losses, it’s a story. When you’re as good as they are and you’ve been as dominant as they have over the last 5 years, this is what happens in sports. It’s why the world throws a parade after every Patriots loss and dissects every Brady incompletion as a sign of the end. When the Warriors stink and get blown out at home time and time again, that’s not nothing. Does it mean they can’t win the title? No, but it also doesn’t mean that those losses should be ignored and nobody should talk about it.
Just because the Warriors don’t really care about the season until the playoffs start doesn’t mean the rest of us have to act that way. They clearly mailed it in on Christmas and they should be scrutinized for it. Klay Thompson is clearly having a rough year, and people can talk about that. The same way once Boogie comes back and plays well, people will talk about that as well. So sorry, I’m not trying to hear them talking about all the “noise” and how none of it is real and people do nothing but overanalyze them.
You are not above it, and you feed into it. Deal with it.