The Warriors showed they have not lost their identity with a big win over the Spurs on Thursday.
So what did we learn on Thursday night?
Nothing much, really. The Golden State Warriors momentarily stopped whatever panic developed after they lost two of their last three home games with a convincing home win over the Spurs. In other words, we learned they are still themselves.
For a team that has routinely obliterated opponents both home and away this season at a historic clip, two close losses in early April with a tired group forced into the burden of chasing a seemingly unbreakable record presented a myriad of questions. Is the gravity of the record getting to them? Are they not focused? Not peaking at the right time? Fatigued? Exposed?
Nah.
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The Warriors proved that they are, indeed, still the Warriors, a team fully capable of taking on the second-best squad in the league — the only legitimate threat standing between Golden State and another championship — and beating them like they’re the 76ers. A sloppy start aside, the Warriors settled down and transformed back into the team we know and love. They moved the ball, ran the fastbreak, and found open looks with ease. They went on their customary, devastating runs — this time, a 14-0 spurt in the first half — to open up a wide margin and never look back.
But showing they were still themselves was big enough. By losing to the Celtics last Friday and the Timberwolves on Tuesday, the Warriors alarmingly became mortal, a team that could be beaten by any given team on any given night. Against the Celtics, you fully expected Stephen Curry to knock down that 3-pointer to send the game to overtime. Against the Timberwolves, you thought that even with the second half meltdown, the Warriors would rebound and pull out an ugly win. But with clank after clank from the Splash Brothers, the realization slowly came to light: this team looks like just another NBA team losing a random late-season game.
Maybe we’ve become immune to it having been exposed to it on a nightly basis, but the Warriors aren’t “normal.” They are abnormal in the sense that every night is a spectacle, a Harlem Globetrotter-like display of thrilling basketball where the question is not whether they will win, but rather by how many points.
And though Steve Kerr criticized his team for doing exactly that — “we decided to turn it into a show” — the Warriors play much better when the game morphs into a show-like atmosphere that has been described as “controlled chaos.” They are more loose, more free-flowing, more relentless with their ball movement and energy.
We saw that on Thursday with the lobs, the extra passes, the triples raining down. Instead of the nervous tension that filled Oracle Arena on Tuesday when the Timberwolves unbelievably closed a double-digit gap to force and control overtime, it seemed like the usual, light-hearted atmosphere at a Warriors game.
Just another reason to show the Warriors re-discovered their identity against the Spurs, a team they will see once more as they endeavor to win their remaining three games break the regular season wins record. It is entirely possible — as long as they keep being themselves.