1. Warriors need to start playing for real
In the 2014-15 season, you could just feel everything going right for the Warriors, and you just knew that they were going to win it all. It was their year, and it just seemed like nothing could stand in their way.
In the infamous 73-9 season, that same feeling just wasn’t there. The Warriors had the high ground in the Finals, but it felt as if it were they were just staving off the inevitable as the momentum visibly shifted.
In the 2016-17 season, the Warriors came in re-energized and looking to redeem themselves. They knew they were the best, and they wanted to prove it — KD especially. You just knew he was going to carry them to another ring, and his Finals MVP trophy proves that.
Durant said the biggest difference between this Rockets team and last season’s is “they’re just playing harder.” pic.twitter.com/wj7Q6mueOo
— Connor Letourneau (@Con_Chron) January 21, 2018
Now in the second half of the 2017-18 season, the Warriors have significantly bigger targets on their backs, and that feeling of them trying to mount their last stand is there once more. They just don’t seem as dominant, and it’s feeding many of these teams confidence.
While the rest of the league continues to play their best basketball against Golden State, the Warriors remain concerned with just trying to stay healthy, continuing to go through the motions of the regular season.
These are shark-infested waters, and the rest of the league smells blood. The Warriors need to get to smoothing over any rough edges they may have before the bad habits they formed over the course of the 82-game regular season come back to haunt them in the Finals.