SAN FRANCISCO — After a couple of weeks of constant questions about where their team is headed in the seasons to come, the Warriors sent a forceful reminder Tuesday that they should still be feared in this one.
Golden State celebrated its 2022 championship with a ring ceremony and a breezy win over the Lakers on opening night. The weeks leading up to the game were filled with speculation about the Warriors’ future. Can Draymond Green and Jordan Poole get along? Will Draymond be on the team after this season? Can the younger players develop to serve as contributors now as well as a bridge to the future?
The Dubs didn’t necessarily provide answers for all those questions in one night. But they did show that this team could pick up right where it left off from when we last saw them, when Golden State was the last team standing in the playoffs. The 123–109 win against the Lakers followed a similar script to countless Warriors games from their best years. An almost careless first half. An absolutely dominant third quarter. And a general attitude that at no point did they fear their opponent.
It helped Golden State to start its season against a lifeless Lakers team that simply can’t shoot at a level required to be competent in the modern NBA. The Dubs’ rotation almost had a preseason dress rehearsal vibe to it. Stephen Curry was the only player to play more than 30 minutes, and even then it was only a leisurely 33. And there were plenty of minutes for the bench, with Poole, Jonathan Kuminga and James Wiseman among those all getting genuine time on the floor. (Even Moses Moody got up four shots in eight minutes.)
Whether the young players can turn into stars next to the established legends still remains to be seen. It would certainly help for them to play against stiffer competition. For now, the Warriors’ plan is at least coming into focus. Find time for the deep bench to develop, then lean on the starters whenever this team needs to make a run. It won’t always be easy for Steve Kerr to divvy up the minutes. But he does have the luxury of always being able to fall back on Curry and whoever else has it going.
“It reminds me of ’14–15,” Kerr said of the team’s depth after the game. “It reminds me a lot of the talent level. That team was veteran. This team it’s young guys. The talent is really obvious.”
And that talent remains an issue for the rest of the league. The Warriors may not be a runaway favorite in the manner they were during, say, the Kevin Durant years. They don’t need to be, though. Not in the current NBA, in which no team is head and shoulders above anyone else, and superteams have largely gone the way of starry duos.
The off-the-court intrigue really doesn’t affect what this team is capable of. Contracts, luxury tax numbers, future plans: They all felt insignificant Tuesday. Something everyone on the team has echoed since the Green-Poole incident has been the focus on repeating as champions. It may still be early to say that the championship focus is already present. Still, the Warriors certainly resembled the version of themselves capable of winning it all in Game 1.
“We went out there. We had a job to do tonight to win a game,” said Poole, answering a question about his status with Green. “It was a ring night, and that's really what we were focused on finishing the first game. It was a huge win against a really good team.”
There’s no real sense in overreacting to opening night. Those who remember the Spurs’ 29-point drubbing of the Dubs in Kevin Durant’s debut will tell you a champion is not crowned in October. What Tuesday proved to be was a very early-season vibe check. At least for now, the Warriors have earned a reprieve from all the noise surrounding their future. In the present, Golden State is still very much prepared to compete for the ultimate prize.
