The Warriors might very well be for real.
It would be ridiculous to suggest otherwise after they went into Boston and beat the Celtics on Wednesday.
That’s a big-time win against the defending champions, and it was no fluke.
Of course, it’s the first full week of November. Eight games in is too early to make bold declarations about a nearly six-month-long NBA season.
“We haven’t done anything yet,” Warriors guard Steph Curry, who has won everything there is to win in the sport, said Wednesday night.
But there is something we can say, with certainly, about these 2024-25 Warriors:
They’re refreshing.
The Warriors might lack a second star (as did the Celtics on Wednesday, with NBA Finals MVP Jaylen Brown sidelined), but they are making up for it with hustle, flow, and the power of friendship.
That might sound like a sarcastic dismissal of the Dubs’ start, but it’s anything but disparaging.
The Warriors are playing a style of basketball that is so rarely seen in the modern NBA. It’s almost antithetical to the popular perception of the league’s regular-season style. The Dubs are doing this strange thing where they’re playing hard on, like, every possession. They also play within systems on both ends of the court while showing an across-the-board and laudable understanding of roles.
And, get this: they seem to like playing with one another.
It’s a blast to watch.
You’d think this would be the norm at the professional rank, but this ego-free basketball is downright exceptional in the modern NBA. No, these Warriors almost seem collegiate compared to their peers, save that they’re not missing defensive rotations and roughly 100 3-pointers a game.
Now, the Celtics are an outstanding team, and they had the Warriors on the ropes in the fourth quarter on Wednesday. I — a fool — even texted our news group’s intrepid beat writer that the Warriors’ happy-go-lucky act had reached an end-point — foiled by the defending champions and all their proven talent.
Instead, the Dubs were just getting started.
The Warriors trailed by one with just over four minutes to play Wednesday. They won by six, thanks to Curry’s brilliance, Buddy Hield’s quick release, and outstanding team defense, particularly on Celtics star Jason Tatum.
“They’re physical. They force you to fight through space. They have active hands,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzula said after the contest.
A reminder: this game was played on Nov. 6
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Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment
