Steve Kerr Puts Premium on Mental Rest as Warriors Look to Repeat as Champions

Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said making sure the Dubs get enough mental rest is crucial as they attempt to win their fourth straight Western Conference title and repeat as NBA champions. 

On Thursday, Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com passed along comments from Kerr about how things have changed for the star-studded Warriors during their run of dominance.

"You feel it after a number of years. The team has a different vibe around it, and you've gotta fight through that," he said. "When I got here three years ago, these guys were bouncing off the walls every night. They couldn't wait to play. They had lost in the first round [to the Los Angeles Clippers] the previous year. They had this hunger, this motivation."

Golden State is off to a 5-3 start, which is solid for just about any team other than the Warriors, who finished the 2015-16 campaign with a record-breaking 73-9 record and backed it up with a 67-15 mark last season before winning their second title in three years.

Kerr isn't the only one who's noticed a malaise during the early going. Veteran guard Shaun Livingston explained the difficulty of navigating this season as the reigning champs.

"This is the hardest year," he told Shelburne. "Just the way our mind feels. It's mentally taxing over physically. ... So we're trying not to snap. We're trying to build some resistance to that."

The 52-year-old coach has experience in these situations from his time as a player with the Chicago Bulls and San Antonio Spurs when he won five championships, so he understands what his players are going through.

"In [1997] with the Bulls, we started off 8-7 ... and we were having all these team meetings," Kerr said. "[This] feels exactly the same. The fatigue, the emotional and spiritual fatigue that sets in when you've been going to the Finals."

The silver lining for the Warriors is the lack of true competition in the league's "super team" era. They can pretty much sleepwalk to at least the conference semifinals and by that point the intensity and competitiveness that might be lacking right now should be back.

"I recognize that we're gonna be fine," Kerr said. "I know we're gonna be fine."

OddsShark notes the oddsmakers agree with Kerr's assessment as Golden State is still listed as a definitive 4-7 favorite to win the 2018 NBA title.