Golden State Warriors Stepping into Brand New Role in the 2015 NBA Playoffs
The Golden State Warriors can't act like they've been here before. Because they haven't.
This is their first playoff appearance as the No. 1 seed since 1976. And their inexperience with the laser-like focus required for life atop the NBA has been apparent.
The Dubs have twice defeated the eighth-seeded New Orleans Pelicans going into Thursday, but complacency and carelessness have kept both contests closer than necessary. If Golden State can't shake its bad habit of easing off the gas pedal—a problematic practice that leads to a dip in defensive effort and a pile of unforced errors—this group threatens to bring its own playoff run to an abrupt end.
But there aren't any alarm sirens blaring in the Bay Area just yet. The Warriors haven't brought anything close to their best, and they're still holding a historically commanding lead.
New Orleans might be lucky to steal a victory in this series. Stephen Curry hasn't entered human-torch mode yet, Anthony Davis has dominated, and the Pellies have enjoyed some unexpected contributions from a hobbled Tyreke Evans, Eric Gordon, Norris Cole and Quincy Pondexter—so many things have fallen in New Orleans' favor, except for any victories.
The talent gap is wide enough for Golden State to survive and advance with less than its A-game.
"There is only one way that the Pelicans can win a game in this series, much less the entire thing—they have to get a transcendent performance from Davis, their 6'11" MVP in the making," wrote Sports Illustrated's Phil Taylor. "... The Warriors, on the other hand, have proven that they have a variety of ways they can tame the Pelicans."
But that same disparity in ability makes it tough to process what has transpired.
The Warriors opened the series by nearly coughing up a 25-point advantage before clinging to a 106-99 victory. That was supposed to be Golden State's wake-up call, a sign that New Orleans had no intention of conceding this clash.
The Warriors seemed primed to step on the Pelicans' throats in Game 2. Jrue Holiday was held out of the contest (soreness in his right leg), and Evans was a game-time decision (left knee bruise). New Orleans head coach Monty Williams had also awakened an already raucous Oracle Arena crowd.
But rather than sprint, Golden State stumbled out of the gate. The Warriors were down 13 points before 12 minutes had passed. It wasn't until Andre Iguodala, Leandro Barbosa and Marreese Speights sparked a second-team charge in the second quarter that Golden State climbed back into a tussle it would eventually win by a 97-87 margin.
The scoreboard shows two wins, but the eye test lacks evidence that the Warriors are ready for a stage with little to no margin for error.
"We've got to put four quarters together where we're just executing and moving the ball and taking care of it," Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said, per NBA.com's Scott Howard-Cooper. "That's what we've done this year for the most part, but we're still a pretty young team. We still get excited at times and do some crazy things."
Some of those crazy things yield wildly entertaining highlights.
But others contribute to Golden State's year-long battle with self-inflicted wounds.
The team coughed up the 13th-most turnovers during the regular season (14.5 per game), and it has matched that number through two playoff games (the fourth-most giveaways in the postseason).
As Kerr told reporters after Monday's come-from-behind win, the Warriors have tried making plays that aren't there and attacking lanes that aren't open:
Their safety net in this series is even strong enough to guard them against an uncharacteristically shaky effort from Curry, as ESPN.com's Ethan Sherwood Strauss observed:
But those protections will be lost down the postseason road.
Imagine how devastating those giveaways would be if they were fueling the transition attacks of the Los Angeles Clippers, Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs or Cleveland Cavaliers. Picture the Dubs trying to keep pace with those explosive offenses on a dry night from the Splash Brothers. Or attempting to survive some momentary lapses on the defensive end.
It's not going to happen.
Once they compiled their NBA-best (and franchise record) 67 wins, they stitched a target across their back.
"The last two years, you're the hunters," Draymond Green said, per Sporting News' Jimmy Spencer. "Now, you're the hunted."
There's a different type of pressure with being the hunted, a new set of standards to meet. The Warriors aren't looking to slay any dragons; they're the NBA's new fire-breathing monster.
Throughout the season, they separated themselves from the pack. They thrashed their opponents by 11.4 points per 100 possessions. No other club had a net efficiency rating above plus-6.9.
But maybe that contributes to what we're seeing now.
This team wasn't exactly tested often during its 82-game marathon. The Warriors steamrolled their opponents so often that Curry sat out a staggering 20 fourth quarters. That dominance was a sight to behold, but it may have left this group ill-prepared for the crunch-time scuffles of the postseason.
"You want to be rested up, but you kind of miss the experience of what a close game feels like," Curry said, per Howard-Cooper. "Playing a fourth quarter with a rotation that we're probably going to have every night during the playoffs, we didn't get many experiences with that."
That's the silver lining to the Warriors' relative struggles in burying the Pelicans. Golden State is getting that experience now, with both contests featuring narrow margins in the final minutes.
"On so many levels, the Warriors need this experience to make the most of who they are," wrote Bleacher Report's Dan Favale. "They need to walk that line between winning and almost losing because their path to a title will invariably include more dangerous opponents, more blown leads and more deficits."
Golden State's path to the championship podium is clear.
No matter the metric used, the Warriors grade out as the league's top team. If they keep tickling the twine from distance and flying around the defensive end like they have all season, no external force is powerful enough to stop them.
But their internal battles with complacency and concentration will ultimately determine how this magical ride ends.
They have to find some comfort on this stage, even if it's their first trip truly under the spotlight.
Unless otherwise noted, statistics used courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com.
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