Taking show on road pays dividends
Win tonight would be record 14th straight away
CHICAGO >> The lack of late-night flights should make the Warriors feel more energized. The festive atmosphere at Oracle Arena should give the Warriors a confidence boost. Familiar home surroundings should give the Warriors more comfort.
Usually, there is no place like home. For the Warriors, however, there is no place like the road. The Warriors (36-9) enter tonight’s game against the Chicago Bulls (17-27) with the NBA’s most road wins (20) and a season-high 13-game road winning streak. Assuming the Warriors win again, they will match the franchise’s longest road winning steak that they also set in the 2015-16 season.
“I just like how attentive we are on the road,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “We get home and tend to lose focus and lose intensity. I think the road brings out that appropriate fear that we talk about.”
Good news for the Warriors: adopting a phrase originally coined by San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich has yielded some amazing results. During the Warriors’ 13-game road winning steak, they have beaten opponents by an average of 10.6 points per game. They secured eight of those 13 wins by double-digit margins.
“We get home and tend to lose focus and lose intensity. I think the road brings out that appropriate fear that we talk about.” — Steve Kerr
“Your alerts are up,” Warriors guard Stephen Curry said. “You walk into an opponent’s team’s building. You feel that hostile environment and you understand the difference between winning and losing. Building momentum is a lot harder to accomplish that on the road. You obviously don’t want to have drop-offs when you’re on the road.”
Bad news for the Warriors: they have more dropoffs at Oracle Arena. In a venue known for its vocal and devoted fanbase, the Warriors do not feed off that source of energy as consistently. The Warriors have gone 16-6 this season at Oracle Arena, which already will fare worse than their home records in 201415 (39-2), 39-2 (2015-16) and
36-5 (2016-17).
“We relax just a little bit at home. This is who we are when we’re on the road,” Warriors forward Kevin Durant said. “At home, we have spurts where we just get too relaxed sometimes. We’re at home and our crowd is behind us. On the road, we know we can’t dig ourselves a hole. We can’t have a bad stretch or let them get momentum. Or else the crowd will actually push them over the top.”
Nonetheless, the rest of the NBA would love to have the Warriors’ firstworld problems. After all, they still have the NBA’s best record. And a big factor points to their road performances.
Then, the Warriors have outperformed their opponents in points per game (119.2, 108.6), rebounds (45.4, 40.8) and assists (31.9, 23.1).
Their star players remain
dependable. Curry has become slightly more efficient during this 13game road winning streak (29.4 points on 51.9 percent shooting) than at home (26.3 points on a 47 percent clip).
Durant has scored slightly higher during the team’s road winning streak (28.4 points) than at home (26.4). And Warriors forward Draymond Green has fared better during the road winning streak than at home in points (12.9, 10.8), shooting percentage (46.9, 45.6), rebounds (9.4, 7.8) and assists (8.6, 7.3).
“You’re on the road and you’re naturally a little fearful,” Kerr said. “You have your guard up. But as long as you turn that into aggressiveness then it works in your favor. I think that’s what happened.”
Another factor might have fueled the Warriors,
too.
“Winning on the road is great; you see opposing arenas empty out pretty quick,” Curry said. “It’s just 15 guys on the roster and the coaching staff. That’s what it’s all about.”
• The Warriors listed Green (right shoulder soreness) and veteran forward Andre Iguodala (left calf contusion) as questionable for Wednesday’s game in Chicago. Green iced his shoulder following Monday’s win in Cleveland, an injury that kept him sidelined for five games last month. Meanwhile, Iguodala has nursed various minor ailments throughout the season.
• Both the Warriors and Curry had the top-selling jerseys during the 201617 regular season. Durant had the third highest selling jersey, while Warriors guard Klay Thompson ranked 13th.