Warriors making run for 73 unnecessarily hard

OAKLAND – When the Golden State Warriors’ loss on April 5, 2016 becomes nothing but a footnote in their history, the truth about that night of surprises will be crystal clear.

It meant far more for the upstart Minnesota Timberwolves than it did for the defending champions. Karl-Anthony Towns looked like the future Hall of Famer that so many people within the NBA believe him to be, while Andrew Wiggins & Co. showed the kind of promise that was so startling that it had folks on press row opining about the day when they might rule the NBA.

Yes, the Warriors made their push for a record 73-win regular season unnecessarily hard, falling 124-117 in overtime to a team that has now won 26 of 78 games. It’s all or nothing now, with a 4-0 finish required to best the 72-10 standard set by the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls. For bookkeeping purposes, the 65-12 San Antonio Spurs are at Oracle Arena on Thursday night, then they go on the road at Memphis on Saturday, at San Antonio on Sunday and come back for an April 13 finale against the Grizzlies at home.

But five days after the Warriors’ regular season home winning streak of 54 games was broken by the relentless Boston Celtics, their air of invincibility took yet another hit at the worst of possible times. That aspect, T-Wolves’ coming-out party aside, could certainly matter once the playoffs roll around.

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Draymond Green blamed boredom, pointing the finger at the 82-game schedule that so often inspires a lackluster effort or 10 along the way. Stephen Curry focused on, well, Golden State’s lack of focus. The bottom line here, one that none of them tried to run from, is that the Warriors simply aren’t playing like the special team that spent the past five months playing themselves into this position.

“I don’t think (the push for 73 is) anything that’s weighing us down or anything like that,” Curry said. “On the floor, we just haven’t played well these last two, last three home games. It’s amplified now because we’re so close to the goal. So it’ll be a challenge for us. Something that we really need to focus on these last four games is – as much as we can, as best we can – to focus on the 48-minute execution and focus as opposed to winning games because how we play is more important than playoffs. We need to focus on that.

“The two games we’ve lost, we’ve had somewhat control of the game and just ran up against two teams that played better than we did … We’re obviously capable of being beaten. We’re not invincible, so we have to play our game at that top-notch level that we need to win. We just didn’t have it.”

Truth be told, they haven’t for quite some time.

Coming in, the Warriors defense was a point of concern. It had shown signs of improvement of late, but it wasn’t up to the league-best level they established last season. Since the Warriors’ out-of-nowhere blowout loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on March 6 (112-95), their defense is ranked 10th in the NBA.

Warriors defensive guru/assistant coach Ron Adams discussed that concept coming in, highlighting the fact that these Warriors had strayed from the disciplined, four-quarter squad that they were during the championship run. Green, who had such a hard time containing Towns (20 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks), concurred.

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“I think focus is the No. 1 thing (for Golden State),” Green said. “We lost our focus there, and once you lose your focus that’s when turnovers happen, that’s when bad defense happens, that’s when fouls happen. It’s mainly our focus.”

The hype surrounding them, Green admitted, was playing a part.

“Um, honestly? Yes,” Green said when asked. “I think right now we’re just at a point where – and it’s human nature – where it’s like, ‘All right, you’re kind of ready for the regular season to end. You’re talking 82 games. You get bored with that after a while. And that’s no excuse, it’s just (that) I’m going to always give it to y’all real and that’s about as real as I can be.

“It’s kind of at a point now where you’re ready for the regular season to be over. Now in saying that, we’ve got to be a better enough ballclub to continue to try to be better with these games and go into the playoffs the right way and not stumble into the playoffs. I think it’s more worth it to get on the right track and get playing well. If we get playing well, all that stuff will take care of itself. But we’re not playing well.”