‘We definitely know we’re a great team’ — the Warriors’ swagger is back and there’s more to come
Stephen Curry wasn’t going to hesitate on this answer or give a vague platitude indicating very little about the Warriors’ gathering certainty these days.
The Warriors aren’t at a timid or unclear place right now. They know what they’ve done so far this season. They know that this should only get more powerful when Klay Thompson comes back in the next few weeks. Then James Wiseman after that. The Warriors know what they’ve done before. They know the league is watching everything they do. There’s zero point in avoiding all of it.
The evolution of the Warriors’ mindset this season, from hopefulness to excitement to ultimate expectation, is just about complete. So when I asked Curry if the team’s mood has shifted from trying to get off to good start to believing they’re now one of the best teams in the league, he had a ringing answer.
“We’re very confident in how we size up with anybody, any given night we can beat any team in this league,” Curry said after Friday’s 118-96 victory over the Suns at Chase Center to end Phoenix’s 18-game winning streak and strike back after the Suns beat the Warriors in Phoenix on Tuesday. “Last year, we could say that but didn’t prove it very often. Maybe down the stretch of the season.
“But really understand what we do and how we do it is pretty lethal on both ends of the floor. With some question marks coming obviously in terms of Klay’s return and just getting through the meat of the season where you just maintain that.
“So yeah, there’s no shying away from it. We definitely know we’re a great team. (But) have to keep proving that every night.”
None of this means that the 19-3 Warriors are the best team in the league, though they once again have the NBA’s best record a little more than a quarter through the regular season. (In fact, Saturday night’s game against San Antonio looms as a very large potential trap game on a Warriors’ back-to-back.)
Some of it, though, means that the Warriors are unquestionably a title contender for the first time since Kevin Durant left after the 2019 playoffs. And a lot of it means that Curry, Klay, Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala and other central figures in the original dynasty have every right to feel some powerful dynasty déjà vu.
Yes, these are vintage days around the franchise again. But it’s not all nostalgia: The strong performances by a handful of key players who weren’t part of the three-title run from 2014-2018 — Andrew Wiggins, Jordan Poole, Otto Porter Jr., Gary Payton II, Juan Toscano-Anderson — enhances and expands everything that the Warriors can reach for these days.
For example, the group that blew this game open in the fourth quarter was a powerful mix of old and new (and without Curry): Draymond, Poole, Wiggins, Toscano-Anderson and Payton swarmed everything the Suns’ offense tried to do, got out in transition and pushed the lead to 17 points before Curry checked back in one more time.
How does it feel to know, not just hope or guess, that you’re a top team again, Steph?
“It’s amazing,” Curry said. “We’ve been there before. The last few years have been tough, but it’s definitely a good feeling to find different ways to win games, have different guys step up who we really rely on coming off the bench every night. Wiggs stepping into his role on this team and being extremely confident in his abilities and how he helps impact winning. And JP taking that next step in his career with all the work that he’s put in.
“There’s so many people you could identify who have stepped up in meaningful ways who weren’t a part of those championship years and that’s a good feeling to have knowing that we could be in that position at the end of the year.”
Of course, Friday’s win had many mitigating factors. Phoenix was without injured star wing Devin Booker, was on the end of a back-to-back and already had beaten the Warriors this week. There’s every reason to believe that, at worst, the Suns (now 19-4) remain as co-favorites in the Western Conference, which they won last season. The Suns’ length and defensive focus gave the Warriors fits on Tuesday and that continued into sections of Friday’s game.
But the Warriors had some fixes and flexes on Friday, too. Draymond took on the defensive matchup against huge center Deandre Ayton for much of the game and dominated the Suns in a way only a pending Defensive Player of the Year could pull off. The Warriors had better ball movement and were much more patient on offense than they were on Tuesday. Wiggins obviously was much springier on Friday than he could be on Tuesday, when he was battling back issues, and jumped at the chance to hound Chris Paul for much of the night.
And JTA and Payton, after looking very sped up on offense in the first Suns game, settled in and combined to score 33 points. Folks, given their regular defensive contributions, when those two guys score 33 points, it’s just about impossible for the Warriors to lose.
In fact, the two-game set with the Suns was reminiscent of the way the old-school Warriors experienced, analyzed and then worked through major problems to beat the Grizzlies in the second round in 2015, the Thunder in the 2016 Western Conference finals and the Rockets in the 2018 Western Conference finals.
“They’re a really good team,” Curry said of the Suns. “They’re the Western Conference champs. If we do get them in a series, you’ve got a good feel of what they do, how they play, the intentions of every guy that steps on the floor. Obviously with Book out, we don’t have Klay, it’s going to look different. Christmas Day it will look different, in March when we play ’em, it’ll possibly look different in a playoff series.
“Kind of take it for what it is. A good bounce-back for us, though.”
It’s good for the Warriors to have the Suns as a measuring stick this season — Paul, Booker, Mikal Bridges and Ayton are great conference standard-setters for a Warriors team that still needs to get its bearing among the NBA elite. It’s also good for the Suns to have the Warriors — they’ll push each other throughout this season, almost certainly grab two of the conference’s top three playoff seeds and likely continue to measure each other for the highest stakes.
The next time these two teams meet, on Christmas Day, the Warriors might have Klay back. The time after that, on March 30, it might be to decide the West’s No. 1 seed. The time after that likely will be in the Western Conference finals.
“We know that we’re trying to catch them, not vice versa,” Steve Kerr said of the Suns. “We haven’t been in the playoffs for two years. We’re trying to catch them and we know that they’re the best team in the West until somebody else knocks them off.”
Are the Warriors thinking that they’re destined to meet the Suns in the playoffs? The noise at Chase on Friday sure made it feel like Warriors fans knew this was the prologue to something big.
“That would be a lot of fun, right?” Toscano-Anderson said. “A seven-game series. Looking forward to it if it happens. … I’ve played in Phoenix four, five times now since I’ve been in the NBA, I’ve never seen it like (it was on Tuesday). That was really cool. A lot of energy.”
The Warriors are feeling it. They’ve earned this by blowing through the first 22 games of their schedule, turning things around on the Suns and positioning themselves for a comfortable adjustment period once Klay is ready to start playing. And it seems clear that the Warriors needed to do this to start feeling like the Warriors again, which is a signal to the entire sports universe.
“This first part of the season was big for us to get off to a good start — 19-3 is an amazing record,” Curry said. “Not just … how we’re playing, we’re building an identity on both ends of the floor. But we also know we’ve got Klay coming back. When he does come back, there’s going to be an adjustment. You’re giving yourself an opportunity to not ease him back, because I know he wants to come in and be himself, but hopefully with as little pressure on him — just go out and have fun, whatever that is.
“And then for that last third of the season, really gear into our rotation, our confidence in who we’re going to be going into April, May and June. I just like where we are right now.”
There’s no point in qualifying this or keeping it quiet. The Warriors’ swagger is part of who they are and why they’ve won so much. And it’s back. Absolutely zero doubt about this, it’s back.
‘We definitely know we’re a great team’ — the Warriors’ swagger is back and there’s more to come
Stephen Curry wasn’t going to hesitate on this answer or give a vague platitude indicating very little about the Warriors’ gathering certainty these days.
The Warriors aren’t at a timid or unclear place right now. They know what they’ve done so far this season. They know that this should only get more powerful when Klay Thompson comes back in the next few weeks. Then James Wiseman after that. The Warriors know what they’ve done before. They know the league is watching everything they do. There’s zero point in avoiding all of it.
The evolution of the Warriors’ mindset this season, from hopefulness to excitement to ultimate expectation, is just about complete. So when I asked Curry if the team’s mood has shifted from trying to get off to good start to believing they’re now one of the best teams in the league, he had a ringing answer.
“We’re very confident in how we size up with anybody, any given night we can beat any team in this league,” Curry said after Friday’s 118-96 victory over the Suns at Chase Center to end Phoenix’s 18-game winning streak and strike back after the Suns beat the Warriors in Phoenix on Tuesday. “Last year, we could say that but didn’t prove it very often. Maybe down the stretch of the season.
“But really understand what we do and how we do it is pretty lethal on both ends of the floor. With some question marks coming obviously in terms of Klay’s return and just getting through the meat of the season where you just maintain that.
“So yeah, there’s no shying away from it. We definitely know we’re a great team. (But) have to keep proving that every night.”
None of this means that the 19-3 Warriors are the best team in the league, though they once again have the NBA’s best record a little more than a quarter through the regular season. (In fact, Saturday night’s game against San Antonio looms as a very large potential trap game on a Warriors’ back-to-back.)
Some of it, though, means that the Warriors are unquestionably a title contender for the first time since Kevin Durant left after the 2019 playoffs. And a lot of it means that Curry, Klay, Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala and other central figures in the original dynasty have every right to feel some powerful dynasty déjà vu.
Yes, these are vintage days around the franchise again. But it’s not all nostalgia: The strong performances by a handful of key players who weren’t part of the three-title run from 2014-2018 — Andrew Wiggins, Jordan Poole, Otto Porter Jr., Gary Payton II, Juan Toscano-Anderson — enhances and expands everything that the Warriors can reach for these days.
For example, the group that blew this game open in the fourth quarter was a powerful mix of old and new (and without Curry): Draymond, Poole, Wiggins, Toscano-Anderson and Payton swarmed everything the Suns’ offense tried to do, got out in transition and pushed the lead to 17 points before Curry checked back in one more time.
How does it feel to know, not just hope or guess, that you’re a top team again, Steph?
“It’s amazing,” Curry said. “We’ve been there before. The last few years have been tough, but it’s definitely a good feeling to find different ways to win games, have different guys step up who we really rely on coming off the bench every night. Wiggs stepping into his role on this team and being extremely confident in his abilities and how he helps impact winning. And JP taking that next step in his career with all the work that he’s put in.
“There’s so many people you could identify who have stepped up in meaningful ways who weren’t a part of those championship years and that’s a good feeling to have knowing that we could be in that position at the end of the year.”
Of course, Friday’s win had many mitigating factors. Phoenix was without injured star wing Devin Booker, was on the end of a back-to-back and already had beaten the Warriors this week. There’s every reason to believe that, at worst, the Suns (now 19-4) remain as co-favorites in the Western Conference, which they won last season. The Suns’ length and defensive focus gave the Warriors fits on Tuesday and that continued into sections of Friday’s game.
But the Warriors had some fixes and flexes on Friday, too. Draymond took on the defensive matchup against huge center Deandre Ayton for much of the game and dominated the Suns in a way only a pending Defensive Player of the Year could pull off. The Warriors had better ball movement and were much more patient on offense than they were on Tuesday. Wiggins obviously was much springier on Friday than he could be on Tuesday, when he was battling back issues, and jumped at the chance to hound Chris Paul for much of the night.
And JTA and Payton, after looking very sped up on offense in the first Suns game, settled in and combined to score 33 points. Folks, given their regular defensive contributions, when those two guys score 33 points, it’s just about impossible for the Warriors to lose.
In fact, the two-game set with the Suns was reminiscent of the way the old-school Warriors experienced, analyzed and then worked through major problems to beat the Grizzlies in the second round in 2015, the Thunder in the 2016 Western Conference finals and the Rockets in the 2018 Western Conference finals.
“They’re a really good team,” Curry said of the Suns. “They’re the Western Conference champs. If we do get them in a series, you’ve got a good feel of what they do, how they play, the intentions of every guy that steps on the floor. Obviously with Book out, we don’t have Klay, it’s going to look different. Christmas Day it will look different, in March when we play ’em, it’ll possibly look different in a playoff series.
“Kind of take it for what it is. A good bounce-back for us, though.”
It’s good for the Warriors to have the Suns as a measuring stick this season — Paul, Booker, Mikal Bridges and Ayton are great conference standard-setters for a Warriors team that still needs to get its bearing among the NBA elite. It’s also good for the Suns to have the Warriors — they’ll push each other throughout this season, almost certainly grab two of the conference’s top three playoff seeds and likely continue to measure each other for the highest stakes.
The next time these two teams meet, on Christmas Day, the Warriors might have Klay back. The time after that, on March 30, it might be to decide the West’s No. 1 seed. The time after that likely will be in the Western Conference finals.
“We know that we’re trying to catch them, not vice versa,” Steve Kerr said of the Suns. “We haven’t been in the playoffs for two years. We’re trying to catch them and we know that they’re the best team in the West until somebody else knocks them off.”
Are the Warriors thinking that they’re destined to meet the Suns in the playoffs? The noise at Chase on Friday sure made it feel like Warriors fans knew this was the prologue to something big.
“That would be a lot of fun, right?” Toscano-Anderson said. “A seven-game series. Looking forward to it if it happens. … I’ve played in Phoenix four, five times now since I’ve been in the NBA, I’ve never seen it like (it was on Tuesday). That was really cool. A lot of energy.”
The Warriors are feeling it. They’ve earned this by blowing through the first 22 games of their schedule, turning things around on the Suns and positioning themselves for a comfortable adjustment period once Klay is ready to start playing. And it seems clear that the Warriors needed to do this to start feeling like the Warriors again, which is a signal to the entire sports universe.
“This first part of the season was big for us to get off to a good start — 19-3 is an amazing record,” Curry said. “Not just … how we’re playing, we’re building an identity on both ends of the floor. But we also know we’ve got Klay coming back. When he does come back, there’s going to be an adjustment. You’re giving yourself an opportunity to not ease him back, because I know he wants to come in and be himself, but hopefully with as little pressure on him — just go out and have fun, whatever that is.
“And then for that last third of the season, really gear into our rotation, our confidence in who we’re going to be going into April, May and June. I just like where we are right now.”
There’s no point in qualifying this or keeping it quiet. The Warriors’ swagger is part of who they are and why they’ve won so much. And it’s back. Absolutely zero doubt about this, it’s back.
