The Golden State Warriors have had the best record in the NBA for the last three consecutive seasons, but they probably won’t be breaking their backs to make it a fourth this year.
In a feature by Anthony Slater of The Athletic that was published on Tuesday, Warriors forwards Draymond Green and Kevin Durant said that the team does not care about being at the top of the regular season standings again.
“I don’t even look at the standings,” the reigning Defensive Player of the Year Green was quoted as saying. “We haven’t even talked about it.”
“Best record? That’s not even a thing,” added the defending NBA Finals MVP Durant. “It’s about playing good basketball every night. If we don’t play good basketball, we’ll lose.”
It’s a position that makes perfect sense — the Warriors are gunning for their fourth straight Finals appearance and their second straight title, devaluing the importance of the regular season. They also already won an NBA single-season record 73 games in 2015-16 (albeit before Durant came aboard).
Granted, Golden State (at 44-14) is still only 0.5 games behind the Houston Rockets for the league’s best record heading into the second half of the season. But these comments are further evidence that they may be on cruise control for a regular season that they are admittedly not quite in top form for.
