There’s been a bit of a weird vibe around the Golden State Warriors on a few separate occasions this year. The most prominent one was the spat between Kevin Durant and Draymond Green from earlier this season, and now, things are just a bit off, as the two-time defending champions have dropped five of their last eight games.
Wednesday night might have been the team’s on-court nadir in 2018-19, as Golden State got ran off their home court by the ostensibly reeling Boston Celtics. The Dubs looked listless as the Celtics did whatever they wanted on both ends of the floor, leaving Oracle Arena with a convincing 125-98 win. It was the latest in what has been a series of baffling losses by Golden State in their building this season.
Celtics smoke the Warriors by 33 in Oracle. Already the Warriors' fifth home loss by 20+ points this season.
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) March 6, 2019
When asked after the game, Warriors coach Steve Kerr pointed to a general lack of energy for the reason the team got blown out, saying “it looked to me like we were jogging up the floor” and “it starts with a passion, and an anger and an intensity, and it wasn’t there tonight.”
Steve Kerr: “It starts with a passion and an anger and an intensity. It wasn’t there.” pic.twitter.com/pSGw9a6B1O
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) March 6, 2019
There was certainly a lifelessness from Golden State on Tuesday, but Durant disagrees that the answer is for the team to get angry. When presented with Kerr’s comments after the game, Durant said he doesn’t quite see eye-to-eye with his coach.
Kevin Durant asked about Kerr saying the team needed to play with more anger: “I thought we moved off joy. Now anger? I disagree with that one.” pic.twitter.com/M7o4nFDori
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) March 6, 2019
“I thought we move off of joy?” Durant asked. “Now anger? OK. I disagree with that one. I think all-around, top to bottom, coaches, players, we just gotta be better.”
Kerr talks about joy a lot as being a driving force for Golden State, thus Durant’s rhetorical question about joy vs. anger. While Durant certainly isn’t wrong about the Warriors needing to improve all over the place — especially on the defensive end of the floor, where things have been particularly bleak this year — taking this sort of a swipe at Kerr’s general basketball philosophy is interesting considering the team’s slide. Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports went as far as to write “Individuals in the room were stunned with his comments. From the moment Durant took his seat, his demeanor was of someone prepared to go on the attack.”
The Warriors have always believed that any and all issues that might pop up could be resolved by getting to the postseason, locking in, and knowing that it’s incredibly hard to overcome all their talent four times in a seven-game stretch. Perhaps that will be the case this year, and perhaps once everyone is healthy and playing the team-oriented ball that has become a hallmark during Kerr’s tenure, they’ll waltz to yet another championship. Still, it’s hard not to look at Tuesday’s loss and Durant’s reaction and get a bit curious as to whether something is awry.
