13. Will the Warriors maintain interest all season long?
With the Holy Warriors Empire coming off its third title in four seasons, it’s more than natural to assume the team will struggle to keep the same level of focus in January and February that they have deep into the playoffs.
That’s fine. Why would they? The Warriors are a 16-game team, according to Draymond Green.
The question, then, is whether that coasting will stretch too far, far enough to hurt them. Will the midseason fooling around lead to a few too many careless losses and an unfavorable playoff matchup because of it? Doubtful. Is there even an unfavorable matchup for the Warriors? The more likely issue would be if Golden State starts coasting, and then keeps coasting and keeps coasting and doesn’t stop.
The thing about teams that are confident they can always flip the switch is that at some point, the switch doesn’t flip. It’s probably too early to really be having that conversation about this team, but things always change more quickly than we expect in the NBA. Adding in a potentially volatile personality in DeMarcus Cousins won’t necessarily make things easier either.
All that is most likely concern trolling. The Warriors should have better health than they did last season, and even DeMarcus Cousins should have enough self-awareness to know he’s not the most important mouth to feed once he’s ready to suit up. Hell, we may be in early February wondering if Golden State will lose again before the playoffs. The Warriors have a habit of making the extraordinary seem pedestrian.