The Golden State produced their first major letdown game of the season on Thursday against the Milwaukee Bucks, with Steve Kerr lamenting his team’s mental and physical fatigue following the 120-110 loss to a team playing without star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo.
While that may sound like nothing but an excuse to some just over a week into the season, The Ringer’s Bill Simmons has said the quiet part out loud regarding the NBA screwing the Warriors with a brutal schedule through the first few weeks.
Bill Simmons lays out how the NBA is absolutely screwing the Warriors
Speaking recently on his podcast, Simmons leapt to the defense of the franchise and believes there’s very little explanation for why the NBA set them up with such a difficult schedule straight out of the gates.
“I think there’s a real chance Adam Silver hates Golden State, because I can’t think of another explanation when I look at the schedule,” Simmons said. “These are all games that, 17 days, they have 10 games and they’re basically all in different locations. That’s a f**k you from the NBA schedulers.”
Are the Warriors legit contenders?@BillSimmons wants to believe in Golden State, but he wants to see how they fare in the BRUTAL stretch of games coming up. pic.twitter.com/P9XlEfjHyo
https://twitter.com/ringer/status/1984108069765152878?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The Warriors have already played six games through the first 10 days of the season, including a pair of back-to-backs within a six-day period where they impressively managed to go 3-1 against decent opposition.
It’s not getting any easier for Golden State either, with Thursday’s loss to the Bucks the first of 10 road games over their next 12 games. Those 12 games will take place over 21 days, including another trio of back-to-backs.
The first one might be on the easier side as the Warriors prepare to face the Phoenix Suns and Sacramento Kings on Tuesday and Wednesday, but the one beyond that is about the toughest test you could possibly get in basketball right now.
The Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs are two of three teams who remain undefeated to this point of the season, with Golden State to face both in back-to-back games on the road next month. Throw in a visit to Denver and another back-to-back against the Miami Heat and Orlando Magic, and this is an incredibly difficult path for any team, let alone an aging one, to navigate through early on.
The plus side is that if the Warriors can manage to make it through this period with a strong record while remaining healthy, then their legitimacy as a title threat will only strengthen after what’s been a bullish start to date.
