Kurtenbach: The Spurs put a scare in the Warriors that cannot be brushed aside
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The Warriors won their fourth-straight game on Sunday, and if not for a 28-9 run to start the second half, a brilliant performance from Draymond Green, a fourth-quarter flurry from Steph Curry, and a clutch 3-pointer from Klay Thompson, the Warriors would have lost to Victor Wembanyama and the last-place Spurs.
Alas, it’s not yet Wembanyama’s time. He still has no idea what he’s doing on the court and he still scored 18 in the fourth quarter. Golden State won 117-113.
But that infinitely tall 20-year-old French kid in Texas put a solid scare in the Dubs Sunday. Beating him, and the Spurs took everything the Dubs had.
Wembanyama’s coming. He’s going to run this league one day. It’s the most obvious thing I’ve seen in the NBA since LeBron James entered the league 21 years ago. And that day of reckoning might come sooner than originally expected.
For the one-time league runners from Golden State — a team that boasts four Hall of Famers — the push required to win in San Antonio had to hit hard.
Yes, the Warriors have a lot going on these days. Their eyes are occupied.
One is on their daily opponent: Survive and advance. Another is on the Houston Rockets, who are pushing up on the Dubs from the depths of the Western Conference. They finally lost Sunday to the Mavericks after an 11-game winning streak.
But if this team has a third eye that’s open, it has to be focused on the future.
Amid all the half-billion dollar questions the Warriors organization will have to ask itself this summer, one should loom largest:
How many teams will be better than us in 2024-25?
Sunday’s game with the Spurs should ring alarms. A win is a win — and winning on the road is nothing to take for granted. We all saw the Warriors’ 2022-23 season, after all.
But these Spurs are on the rise. They’re crazy young, but after months of messing around, they’re figuring out how to win. Before the Dubs beat them Sunday, San Antonio had won three straight — that’s a hell of a run when you had 15 wins at the start.
With Wembanyama’s limitless talent, it’s fair—perhaps even self-evident—to suggest that this team could absolutely be a contender to make the play-in tournament next year.
Oh, and the young, surging Rockets are likely only going to get better, too.
Memphis should have Ja Morant back next season. They should be in the mix as well.
And which of the nine teams above the Warriors in the standings can you assuredly say will fade for next season? Minnesota, Oklahoma City, and the Pelicans seem to only be scratching the surface of their potential. The Clippers, Nuggets, and Mavericks have great players in their prime years — they aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. Sacramento might not have another level to reach, but they seem stable at their current status. Phoenix might be a mess, but I doubt they implode. Maybe LeBron will finally start playing like he’s an old man and take the Lakers down with him, but are you willing to make that bet? (Plus, a healthy Anthony Davis is good enough to anchor a team to the postseason.)
Stability, for the most part, is above the Warriors in the standings. Threats are on the rise from below.
I’m quickly doing the math, and it doesn’t look good for the Warriors.
Even if Portland and Utah continue to rebuild next season — we’ll see — that’s only two of the Western Conference’s 15 teams that the Warriors don’t have to consider a threat.
And which way is the Warriors’ arrow pointing?
Even the most optimistic fan cannot suggest its level. At best, it’s slightly pointed down.
The further away from fandom you go, though, the more downward that arrow is slanted.
This Dubs team isn’t winning the title this season. Sorry, but it’s not happening. I’m not sure what you could have seen to make you think that’s possible.
But the remainder of this Warriors’ season is really about proving that this team has the foundation to contend for a title next season.
It’s about fending off dramatic change. A “rebuild” might be the wrong term, but it would be a dramatically different build — perhaps an unrecognizable one.
After all, it’s a big ask to continue an era that looks bygone. To go from a No. 10 seed to a title contender would require stasis from the veterans, dramatic jumps from young players, and a consistent, engaged Andrew Wiggins. It would also require Warriors ownership to place the largest bet in NBA history on what is, effectively, the same roster.
Possible? Yes. Probable? No.
The Warriors have eight games remaining this regular season and perhaps only one more after that. The Dubs’ mandate this final month-plus was to prove that they had been dramatically underperforming all season and that they saved their best for last.
This necessary four-game winning streak might suggest that’s the case.
But the devil is in the details, and after a performance like Sunday’s in San Antonio, it becomes harder to believe that these Warriors are on the precipice of anything but change.
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