The Golden State Warriors suffered their first loss of the season on Friday to the Portland Trail Blazers, going down 139-119 and in doing so revealing the team's kryptonite just three games into the campaign.
Coming into the season, it was clear that head coach Steve Kerr was going to have to be smart in how he managed the team's workload given the Warriors have one of the oldest rosters in the entire NBA. Contingency plans were likely made ahead of the season as the team tried to figure out how to put themselves in the best position to make the playoffs while remaining as healthy as possible.
Short turnarounds could be Golden State's kryptonite this season
This was evident on Friday night as the Warriors played their first back-to-back game of the season. No Golden State player played 30 minutes which stood in stark contrast to the first two games of the season when the team's stars were out there for much larger game time.
While Kerr said that the team's loss to Portland had less to do with fatigue than it had to do with Portland simply outplaying them, common sense leads one to believe the quick turnaround after an epic overtime victory over the Denver Nuggets the night before had at least something to do with the team's sluggish effort.
Allowing 139 points to a team like Portland that's still in somewhat of a rebuilding process, and who remain without the injured Damian Lillard, suggests that the team may have not had the energy needed even against a young team.
It is just one loss early in the season, but it could portend darker things to come going forward. With Golden State's roster being as experienced as it is, they are able to pull out tough wins like they did against Denver in the home opener. The flip side of that coin may be that they are vulnerable on short rest, particularly in those back-to-back contests where they don't have an opportunity to recover.
Kerr has already stated that veteran Al Horford will not play in back-to-backs which is consistent with how he has been used in recent years, but that could put a little more pressure on the team's other veterans and also puts pressure on bench players whose minutes could remain wildly inconsistent.
The Warriors will have their next back-to-back on Monday and Tuesday as they take on the Memphis Grizzlies followed by the Los Angeles Clippers. This will be a key test to see if the team can overcome this issue, or if it really will be their kryptonite throughout the season.