Golden State Warriors

Golden State Warriors

The worst aspects of a wretched stretch of Warriors play were on full display in Phoenix on Thursday night. The turnovers, the stagnant possessions, the missed boxouts and slow defensive rotations: the usual suspects of the Warriors' losing skid were accounted for in the second half. And yet, somehow, thanks to more Dillon Brooks shenanigan's and clutch Curry and Butler shotmaking, the Warriors got to lose an 99-98 heartbreaker instead of being blown out for the team's third consecutive loss.

I was raised the right way in the right culture by Steve Kerr, DeMarco told reporters. I've grown as a coach and I want to do the same for anybody else on my staff.

Perhaps Steve Kerr is trying to manifest a reality that doesn't exist. Because if the Warriors coach has said it once this season, he's said it a dozen times: He believes this group can be a top-tier defensive unit. He says it with conviction. He says it like it's a foregone conclusion, just waiting for the rest of us to catch up. I'm not buying what he's selling. And honestly, neither should you.

Two decades later, he had then coached the 73-9 Warriors, where prime Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and the death lineup tore up the league. When equating Oklahoma City's current-day dominance with those dynastic forces, he pointed his finger at a shared commonality. "A team mindset of zero agendas," Kerr said. "Just win every night, and obviously great talent. But I think high IQ players .... Both had really high IQs individually and as a team."

The Golden State Warriors have been waiting for this moment for half a decade, if not longer: Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks are heading for a divorce. He is likely to be traded in the coming weeks or, at the very latest, this upcoming offseason. Folks, it's on. And the Dubs can't get him. Unless the Greek Freak proclaims that he wants to play for the Warriors and only the Warriors a demand that has not been made and isn't expected Golden State will have to watch its (okay, Joe Lacob's) dream of pairing Steph Curry with Giannis drift away.

I was the 13th guy on a 12-man basketball team. But here I am in the NBA for my 27th season,

The Warriors with Stephen Curry have hardly put the fear into the eyes of NBA defenses this season. Without the him, they have been the league's least-threatening offensive group and did little to shirk that reputation Saturday against the Western Conference's lowliest team. It required nearly every possession of regulation, but the Warriors made just enough shots to pull out a 104-96 win over the New Orleans Pelicans.

SAN FRANCISCO Kevon Looney had navigated Chase Center's winding halls hundreds of times during his 11-year career. But Saturday afternoon's trek through the glitzy San Francisco arena was his first as a visiting player, an unfamiliar experience for the former Warrior still adored by the organization and its fans. I thought I knew the Chase Center like the back of my hand, Looney, now a member of the Pelicans, said.

A mobile 7-footer who can bomb threes and attack off the dribble while getting to the free throw line at an elite rate, he is the kind of frontcourt player NBA teams have coveted ever since the Curry-and-Kerr Warriors revolutionized the NBA almost a decade ago. Now, the shorthanded Warriors will have to deal with a blossoming superstar they reportedly were close to trading for a year ago.

I say it's the greatest upset in the history of major sports in the United States of America, Barry, 83, told the Bay Area News Group. We weren't even going to be a playoff team or get to the Finals, and then supposedly it's going to be a sweep. Then we sweep the team that was supposed to sweep us. You can't find anything more dramatic than that.