There’s no way around it — the Golden State Warriors are struggling. The team is 2-5 since losing Kevin Durant and has dropped three in a row.
It’s a losing streak that the Warriors have not experienced since the 2013-14 campaign, at least not during the regular season. But according to two-time league MVP Stephen Curry, the team is not in panic mode.
“There’s been no panic in our locker room or around our team,” Curry said Monday when asked about the recent losing streak, per Kurt Helin of NBCSports.com. “We know who we are, we know what we’re capable of. The ultimate goal is winning a championship and you’re not going to do that in game 65 or 67 or what not, so it’s not to get wrapped up in what we think is a normal NBA experience.”
Based on last year, Golden State certainly knows better than most teams that championships are not won in March.
Of course, much of the Warriors struggles over the last seven games can be attributed to Curry. He’s averaged better than 25 points a game in that stretch. Still, he is shooting at only 41.8 percent from the field, 27.7 percent on threes and 84.6 percent on free throws. All percentages are well below his career and season averages.
Even still, while the losses are alarming, they shouldn’t be causing panic. Only two of Golden State’s five most recent losses have been by more than seven points. One of those was against the San Antonio Spurs, when both teams had several key players (including Curry) on the bench.
Also, while these struggles are uncommon for the Warriors over the last three seasons, they’re not uncommon in the NBA. Nearly every team — including contenders — will have a least one ugly run of basketball during the season.
The Warriors certainly need to get better. Curry, along with most of the rest of the team, is struggling. Durant won’t be back for at least a few weeks. When he does return, he’ll likely need a few games to get back into the swing of things.
There’s a need for urgency.
But at the present moment, there’s no need to panic.