SAN FRANCISCO — The Memphis Grizzlies ended the Warriors’ season a year ago, but the Warriors are eager to show they’re a new — and improved — team.
“You could say that,” Andrew Wiggins said before tipoff Thursday, when asked if Golden State’s play-in loss provided any extra motivation. “It was an important game that we lost to them. We have to build on that, keep moving forward and just let everyone know we’re not the same team as we were last year.”
So far, so good.
Golden State hasn’t lost a basketball game since that season-ending defeat, a little over six months and nine games — four regular-season, five exhibition — ago.
The hardest part of the early-season schedule is over with.
Now the Warriors embark on a stretch of home games tied for the longest in franchise history, beginning Thursday night against Memphis. At 4-0, the Warriors won’t hit the road again for another eight games — two weeks from now.
“We have a chance to do something special,” Wiggins said. “Those eight-game home stretches are rare, so we’ve got to make the best of it.”
Coach Steve Kerr, however, was quick to note the schedule will even out eventually.
“The one problem with having an eight-game homestand is you know that’s going to flip the other way down the road,” Kerr said. “We just have to look at the total 82 and not get ahead of ourselves. … So the main focus now is just continuing to get better night in night out.”
The only previous homestand in franchise history to match this one also offers a reminder that a friendly crowd doesn’t guarantee a notch in the win column. The Warriors played eight straight at Oracle Arena from Jan. 24-Feb. 9, 2011, and went 4-4.
At 4-0, the Warriors are off to their best start since setting an NBA record with 24 straight wins to begin their 73-win campaign in 2015-16; it’s the sixth time in franchise history Golden State has started a season with at least four straight wins, its third since Kerr took over in 2014-15.
A clean sweep would get them halfway to their record. Winning seven of eight would give the Golden State its second-best 12-game start to the season in the Kerr era (11-1). Six of eight, and the Warriors would match their starts in four of their first five seasons under Kerr, each of which ended in at least 57 wins and the top seed in the Western Conference.
While Draymond Green is happy with the hot start, he’s not putting much stock in it, either.
“Starting the season off on the right track also helps build confidence, which is great,” he said. “I think we’re doing some things well. I think we’ve got a lot of things we can improve on, which is exciting. … We’ve still got probably three or four offensive sets. It’s so early. Like, the playbook is nothing yet. To be where we are at such an early point in the season … I think we’re in a pretty good spot.”
Source: www.mercurynews.com