The Warriors need to find balance
The Golden State Warriors need to find a balance as they try to find their way.
As the overwhelming favorites to win the 2017 NBA Finals, the Golden State Warriors have been, mostly, underwhelming. While the 2K17 video game version of the Dubs probably doesn’t lose, the real life team has struggled. They’ve shown that being better on paper doesn’t mean anything.
The Warriors are the most talented team in the league. They added Kevin Durant to a core of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green. The rich got richer.
Six games into the new season and the Warriors are 4-2. While they still have a winning record, the results don’t match the production. They have looked really bad in half of their wins and awful in both of their losses.
This was mostly expected though. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither will the NBA’s next great dynasty. LeBron James’ Miami Heat took some time to click and so will the new-look Warriors. They, like the Philadelphia 76ers, will have to trust the process.
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The Warriors could not have had a two game stretch with more vastly different results than they did Friday and Saturday night. They looked like two different teams in a span of 48 hours.
At home, the they seemed to put it all together in an emotional matchup with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Durant was dominant and they played like an energized unit. Then they flew to Los Angeles and the Lakers looked like the title favorites. Curry went 0-10 from deep and the Warriors looked lost as Luke Walton’s team blew them out of the gym.
And this is where the Warriors’ biggest challenge arises: finding balance. They can’t get too high after wins. And they can’t get too low after losses.
Twitter culture wants to crown everyone as the greatest after one positive and as trash after one negative. Golden State can’t let themselves fall into themselves. They need to realize that getting to where they want to be doesn’t happen overnight.
The Warriors thrive off energy. Green plays with such high emotions. Curry feeds off momentum. It’s easy to look at one fantastic performance and feel like they’ve completely put it together. Spoiler alert: they haven’t.
The Warriors are prone to turnovers. They’re prone to becoming complacent. They know how talented they really are. Sometimes, they take that talent for granted and put out a stinker where they look like they won’t sniff the Finals. They look like a mediocre team. Spoiler alert: they’re not.
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Golden State has to find middle ground. They need to concern themselves with the journey and the process. Their priority should be building on the previous game. They won’t break basketball in a game or two. It’s a long season.
The Dubs will figure it out eventually and really start clicking. They can’t let themselves get caught up in the hype of winning and they can’t let themselves get too frustrated at losses.
They need balance.