Warriors' time for impressive road victory vs. Nuggets in Denver is now
Warriors' time for loud road victory is now as playoffs loom originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
SAN FRANCISCO – Amid the many bewildering losses to inferior teams, the Warriors this season have sprinkled in a few signature wins. Each of those performances was on their home court, which is not in Denver.
No, that’s where their next game will be played, on Sunday, against the Nuggets, who have the best record in the Western Conference.
Golden State is acutely aware that the stakes are, please excuse me, mile high.
“It's a big game for us,” Draymond Green told NBC Sports Bay Area late Friday night, after yet another comeback was required for a 130-115 victory over the rebuilding San Antonio Spurs at Chase Center.
“We need it for the standings,” Green added. “But, also, at this time of the year when you play against a team that you could possibly face to reach the ultimate prize, you want to instill some doubt.”
This, then, is Golden State’s last regular-season opportunity to go into an imposing building and plant a flag that reminds Denver and all NBA challengers which team has the newest championship rings.
And which team is too proud to go meekly into the offseason.
It’s not that the Sacramento Kings, who the Warriors play next Friday in Sacramento, are chumps at home, but their 23-16 record at Golden 1 Center is not nearly as towering as Denver’s 32-7 record at Ball Arena.
The Warriors will be underdogs, deservedly so, because the road, where they are 9-29, has been their greatest source of misery. They know it. And they also know the consequences of more failure away from Chase.
One road loss could drop them back into the play-in tournament. Two road losses almost certainly would.
“I'm very confident that we can win a couple more games on the road, three even,” Klay Thompson said, including the final road game against the Portland Trail Blazers on April 9. “I know Denver is a tough place to play, but we've won there before in the regular season and playoffs. So, we’ve got to rely on our experience and just our hunger, especially this point in the season.”
Are experience and hunger enough for the Warriors to summon their best work? Are they that much different now than they were 18 days ago, when they left town for a five-game road trip?
Ever the optimist, Thompson was believed they would find success on that trip. They lost the first three games before winning at Houston, which is rebuilding, and at Dallas, which was 5-10 in March.
The closest the Warriors have come to a road win that would sound alarms around the league was 10 weeks ago, on Jan. 19., when they took the Celtics to overtime before losing in Boston.
In their quest to “build good habits,” a phrase they often use, the Warriors, even after 78 games, continue to chase that goal. They entered the fourth quarter trailing the Spurs before taking over during the final 12 minutes. They were trailing the New Orleans Pelicans after three quarters Tuesday before dominating the fourth.
Three days after falling behind New Orleans by 11 in the first quarter, the Warriors fell behind San Antonio by nine in the first.
“We have to get off to a better start, especially knowing we’ll be on the road,” Stephen Curry said. “We have to rebound the basketball, continue to be mindful about the type of turnovers that we have that can lead to easy offense for the other team. And just continue to get solidified in the rotations we have now with a couple guys back, and understanding how we need to execute on both ends to have a good effort.
“[The Nuggets are] obviously a great team and a team we could face down the road. And we obviously know our road struggles."
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Digging deep for comeback wins at home is enough to achieve the desired result, but it is not a good habit.
Moreover, it’s not a winning formula on the road.
“Our focus, at the beginning of the game, has to be better for sure in Denver on Sunday,” coach Steve Kerr said. “That's the best team in the West. So, we're going to have to be sharper.”
Being sharp might be enough to beat the Nuggets in Denver, in which case the Warriors finally would put some credibility behind their belief.
With the NBA playoffs looming, there is no better time for them to show everyone they will not easily bow to those coming for their throne.
