This is the refrain of the season for the Warriors: it wins at home, it fails outside. Friday in Atlanta, Golden State lost again far from its bases, thus chaining a tenth consecutive defeat on the move. But not enough to discourage coach Steve Kerr so far.
Minnesota, Denver, Portland, Clippers, Lakers (twice), Thunder, Grizzlies, Clippers, Hawks.
Here are the teams that have hosted and beaten the Warriors since January 30, when Golden State last won away. You read that right, it’s been a month and a half since Stephen Curry’s gang won on the road, those who have a record of 0 wins – 10 losses in this period of timeand 7-28 on the whole regular 2022-23.
Clearly, it stings. But that doesn’t mean that Dubs coach Steve Kerr no longer believes in his group. On the contrary. Here’s what he said after the game in Atlanta last night (via NBC Sports Bay Area).
“We started the match with a 14-4, we were good and then we started losing balls and we were penalized in transition. That was the problem in the last eight minutes of the first quarter. Then we recovered, we defended better in transition, we took care of the ball.
I’m proud of the effort shown by the guys. I loved our energy. We fought. I believe in my players, I think something good will happen to this group.
Accustomed to experiencing ignition delays, the Warriors this time took the meeting by the right end and this represents an encouraging sign in the eyes of Steve Kerr, among others. But at this point in the season, Golden State can’t be satisfied with encouraging signs. Defending champion needs wins to hope to clinch his place in the Top 6 of the Western Conference and thus qualify directly for the Playoffs.
As these lines are written, the Warriors find themselves in seventh place – synonymous with play-in tournament – with an overall record of 36 wins for 35 losses. They have a similar record to the Mavericks (sixth) but have only a very small lead over their pursuers: the Wolves (35-36) are just behind, as are the Thunder (34-36) and the Lakers (34- 37).
The margin of error is therefore very small and when we know that Golden State has three more games to play away in the coming days (Memphis, Houston and Dallas), and six in total in the last eleven meetings regularly (Denver, Sacramento and Portland at the beginning of April), we say to ourselves that there is cause for concern in the Bay.
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Source texte : NBC Sports Bay Area
“I believe something good is going to happen with this group.”
Steve Kerr is remaining positive following another road loss pic.twitter.com/QWppVgSMKM
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) March 18, 2023
