It was only a couple of months back, as the Golden State Warriors muddled through the meaningless dregs of another 82-game slog, that head coach Steve Kerr found a moment to explain his team’s occasional malaise.
In the quest for a fourth championship in five years, the preeminent team of its generation hasn’t always made life look easy. In March alone the Warriors dropped games to the woeful likes of Phoenix and Dallas and Minnesota — non-playoff teams all. In a season in which Kerr’s team could have been occasionally confused with a soap opera, complete with off-court drama, there were nights when the strain of their status seemed palpable.