Durant leads Warriors past Jazz to take 2-0 lead in series.
Warriors yet to be tested, but that day is coming
OAKLAND — Mike Brown seemed to think the Warriors’ 115-104 win over Utah in Game 2 was some sort of dogfight.
“You know, it wasn’t easy,” he said. “We felt it. We know we can play better. We broke down in a lot of areas where we should have been better. But in the same breath, too, yes, we did some nice things. We had 33 assists. We held them to five offensive rebounds. And then at the end of the day, we got the W.”
That is an acting head coach being politically correct. The truth is, the
Warriors were never really threatened Thursday. And six games into the Western Conference playoffs, the Warriors have been really tested only by their own attention spans.
In sweeping Portland and going up 2-0 on Utah, the Warriors with Kevin Durant have yet to be punched in the mouth in the playoffs. Their superiority has not been threatened. So far, it has required the best efforts of the opponent to even keep games close.
The real tests are for sure coming. The NBA playoffs deliver a blow to the chin every time. Two years ago, Memphis and Cleveland had the Warriors on the ropes. Last year, Stephen Curry’s injury scared the Warriors. Oklahoma City staggered them in the Western Conference Finals. And they were left stunned in the Finals.
When is the adversity coming this postseason? Will the Warriors need to feel it before truly getting into form?
It looked like adversity might have come midway through the first quarter, when Draymond Green went down holding his left leg. He walked off on his own power straight to the locker room. But he returned to the bench minutes later, then reentered the game, ending that threat. And ending Utah’s hopes of stealing one on the road.
The Warriors’ coaching staff warned that Utah wasn’t a squad to overlook. The Jazz’s style of play and collection of talent are capable of bloodying the Warriors. Perhaps that will prove true in Salt Lake City, when the Jazz will have the aid of its home crowd.
But while the coaches’ warnings have helped the Warriors get off to good starts in this series, it’s also revealed how much better the Warriors are than Utah.
Thursday, the Warriors went after the Jazz as if they expected a hungry squad looking for an upset. But a locked-in Warriors’ squad was simply too much for the Jazz.
Getting a shot off was a feat against the relentless pressure. Utah’s patient, methodical approach to offense was replaced by a skittish uncertainty. The Warriors’ rotations cut off all their openings. Their ball pressure left Utah uneasy.
The result was 15 points on 5-of-18 shooting over the first 12 minutes for the Jazz.
Meanwhile, the Warriors’ defensive intensity supercharged the tempo. They had 10 fast-break points and 11 assists in the first quarter. Green made his first four 3-pointers, turning Oracle up a notch. His fourth 3-pointer put the Warriors up 20 with a minute left in the first.
It felt a lot like the opening quarter of Game 4 in the first-round series against Portland. It was flexing. The Warriors displayed their might.
But this might be dangerous. Because so far, their opponent has looked so overmatched that the Warriors eventually let up. They shift into coast mode, knowing they can land a haymaker when needed.
After blitzing Utah in the first quarter, the Warriors became undisciplined and sloppy. It was an example of how the Warriors let their guard down when they don’t feel threatened. Utah, which couldn’t function on offense with the Warriors locked in, scored 67 points combined in the second and third quarters on 61.9 percent shooting. The Jazz even trimmed the lead to single digits on a few occasions.
“But that was a tough game for us,” Brown said. “What it shows us is that, you know, Utah has some confidence and they’re going to be even more confident playing at home in front of their crowd.”
OK, coach. Obviously, he can’t say it, but victory was never really in question. And that means the Warriors didn’t get to execute under the cloud of defeat. They haven’t had to put together a full game yet, just periodic waves of brilliance to crush their opponent.
So the only thing lingering on this path to the championship they squandered a season ago is whether their dominance leaves them unprepared for worthy foes. When the inevitable time comes and they need to be locked in for a full game, when their haymakers can’t knock out a foe and they have to go the distance, will it be too late?
Cleveland, San Antonio or Houston might be the only teams that can truly threaten the Warriors. Then we’ll know how well these Warriors can take a punch.