As NBA returns, will Warriors’ dominance come back, too?
The Golden State Warriors have never lost more than 15 games in a season under Steve Kerr.
They could reach that total in the first night after the All-Star break.
The Warriors who return Thursday night aren’t the same ones who dominated the NBA for the last three seasons. The defending champions sputtered into their week off with four losses in their final eight games, falling into second place in the Western Conference behind Houston — ending a three-year run of taking the league’s best record into the break.
At 44-14 and loaded with four All-Stars, the Warriors are still very good, but not as good they’ve been.
“This year we’ve had a pretty solid season, but feel that we can play a lot better,” Stephen Curry said. “So that’s what we’re trying to do this next 20 games before another championship run.”
Their performances against their first two opponents out of the break show how different things have been for these Warriors. The Los Angeles Clippers, who visit Golden State on Thursday, won in Oakland last month after losing the previous 12 meetings in the series.
And the Oklahoma City Thunder, Golden State’s opponent Saturday in a nationally televised game, have defeated the Warriors by 17 and 20 points already this season. They can become the first team to beat Golden State three times in a season since San Antonio went 4-0 against the Warriors in 2013-14 — the season before Kerr’s arrival.