Wolves hand Warriors reminder that history never comes easy
The Warriors' elevation to history and that elusive number -- 70 -- ran smack into a young, hungry, now 26-win Minnesota Timberwolves team that handed down a message Tuesday night: Making history ain't easy.
By
Bill Reiter
•
3 min read
OAKLAND, Calif. -- The Golden State Warriors' elevation to history and that elusive figure -- 70 wins -- ran smack into a young, hungry, now 26-win Minnesota Timberwolves team that handed down a message Tuesday night at Oracle Arena.
Making history ain't easy.
And the Timberwolves' 124-117 overtime win amplified that voice, the one like me you're probably trying to ignore, murmuring: What if Steph Curry and Co. are worn down by chasing greatness, fatigued by following the siren song of beating Jordan and his Bulls? Are they in danger of grabbing the glory of the regular season and not having enough left for the brutal slog that will be the Western Conference playoffs?
What if Pop is right, and rest is the real recipe for achieving all-time status?
"This doesn't surprise me," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. "I think it's easy to get lost in all of this. We haven't been very dialed in of late. Good news is I think we're probably capable of getting locked in and playing much better. And we should. Our eyes should be a lot more open to the danger and possibility of what's out there when you mess around with the game and don't play the way you should."
What's out there is the San Antonio Spurs. What's out there are the Warriors' weaknesses (limited though they may be). What's out there is the pressure of not just reaching all-time greatness but of then sealing it forever the only way you can -- by winning it all.
Kerr is right. It's easy to lose sight of the goal because of the glory right in front of you. It's a big reason why making history is hard, and why many who approach it -- on a Sunday at Augusta, in a championship game in Houston, in a ninth inning three outs away from perfection -- ultimately crumble.
Every moment you creep closer to the top of that mountain, the worse the footing becomes. And the more those envious of what you're doing eagerly await the chance to push you back to earth, which is just what the Timberwolves did. At Oracle. A place that until Friday -- when the Celtics stunned basketball and snapped Golden State's 54-game home winning streak -- seemed the unassailable home fortress behind the Warriors' sheen of invincibility.
This Minnesota team will be a force in the years ahead, but it's still a head-scratcher to have seen the Warriors not close them out. Overtime shouldn't have happened, not to this team, not at Oracle. Golden State was up six points with about four minutes left. It felt safe, Andrew Wiggins (32 points) and Karl-Anthony Towns (20 points, 12 rebounds and even a moment where he successfully shut down Steph Curry) were too much.
There was also a sign of, perhaps, even more reason for Warriors fans to worry. Entering the game, Golden State was 25th in the NBA in turnovers with 15.1 per game. And certainly its pace of play has something to do with that. But the game's best team had 23 turnovers Tuesday night.
Not convinced turnovers could be an Achilles heel? Last Friday, in that home loss to Boston, the Warriors had 22 turnovers.
That red flag, and the fatigue that might have been the reason Curry didn't make a shot until there was 9:09 left in the third quarter, is a reminder that one of the best Spurs teams we've seen is still lurking. They're here Thursday, and they will be a formidable challenge for any team, the Warriors included, come the playoffs.
Worth noting: The Spurs, not the Warriors, have the league's best simple rating system, a weighted calculation that the last two years properly predicted the eventual NBA champion. And with the league's best defensive efficiency rating and third-best offensive rating, they are on paper superior to the Spurs team that crushed the Miami Heat in the 2014 NBA Finals.
Oh, and they're rested, too. Probably will rest some guys Thursday night, when the Warriors again try to make history and become only the second team in NBA history to win 70 games. Which will be cool. And special. And a real reminder that San Antonio chases greatness a different way.
The Warriors are amazing and I still like them come the postseason. But when you throw the Spurs in, it's by a very, very thin margin. Thinner than perhaps most realize. And that ugly loss Tuesday night is a reminder that if this team isn't careful, that Warriors gold could end up standing more for chasing the sun, Icarus-style, than it does an adornment to greatness.
