OAKLAND — The Warriors throttled the Pistons 127-107 Thursday, but a chunk of the postgame chatter revolved around Monday’s matchup with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The paradigm shift in this 2016-17 season for the Warriors is apparent in this question: Do the Warriors care about the result against a Cleveland team that has become their nemesis?
One year ago, the Warriors would not have shied away from saying they want to win every regular season game, and in turn, Steve Kerr wouldn’t mind pushing his players pedal-to-the-medal in achieving victory.
Now? Golden State really is treating the NBA Finals rematch with little hullabaloo.
“I’m more excited for the off day tomorrow, to be honest,” Kevin Durant said slyly.
Durant and his teammates will get plenty of rest. Golden State has Friday, Saturday and Sunday off, a rarity in the dog days of the NBA season. And Steve Kerr said the team will not put in any extra film preparation for the Cavaliers.
Draymond Green echoed Durant’s sentiment about rest, but was also asked whether it’s more important for the Warriors to win, or play well Monday against the Cavs.
“Play well,” Green said. “Whether you win or lose on Monday really does not matter. It’s about playing well and continuing to grow. Yeah, that does not matter.
“Either team, whoever loses on Monday, nobody is throwing in the towel or panicking or saying we need to make a trade now. It’s not happening.”
Kerr was a little more diplomatic with his response to what the game means on Monday against Cleveland.
“It’s a great rivalry,” Kerr said. “It’s a game everybody that follows the NBA looks forward to. There’s only two of them in the regular season. And, you know, we played them back-to-back in the Finals. It’s become a much anticipated rivalry game. It’s good for the league, it’s good for us, it’s good for them. It should be fun.”
There will be more eyes than usual on Steph Curry for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday affair. On Christmas Day, Curry scored 15 points on 4/11 shooting and was mostly muted by Cavs defense specialist DeAndre Liggins. Kyrie Irving hit the game-winning shot over Klay Thompson with seconds remaining in what was arguably the most thrilling game so far in the NBA season.
But ever since then, Curry has been on an absolute tear. He’s averaging 30.2 points per game in six January contests, and more importantly, 22.6 shots per game. His December numbers were underwhelming coming from a two-time MVP — 20.4 points on just 15.4 shot attempts.
Durant has noticed a more aggressive Steph. Kerr played the two stars together more in the third quarter against Detroit (less in the second) and the Warriors outscored the Pistons by 22 points with the enhanced lineup.
“He’s a superstar,” KD said of Curry. “He can kind of check himself, and kind of step outside of his self and look at the whole season. Shooting 11 shots one game and like 13 shots one game, that’s not him. And he knows that. So he was able to come out these last couple of weeks and put his foot on the gas. And he knows that’ll open it up for the rest of us.
“He’s the head of the snake. We kind of feed off his energy. We feed off his scoring. The way he plays is kind of contagious.”
So Draymond, you really don’t care if you lose Monday to the Cavaliers?
“Nah, I’m pissed with every loss. I hate losing,” Green said to laughs. “So, it don’t matter if it’s against the Cavs or my high school team. I hate losing. So, that really don’t matter.”