After the Warriors faced a big 141-122 loss to the Clippers in their first regular-season game at the Chase Center, coach Steve Kerr admitted: "This is not a one-off, this is the reality."
"There's going to be nights like this this year," he added. "You've got to play through it, you've got to keep fighting and keep getting better. That's the plan."
Golden State won back-to-back NBA titles in 2017 and '18 but lost to the Raptors in the finals last season. The franchise is in a transition period as it lost veterans Kevin Durant, Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston during the offseason. Klay Thompson is also out with an ACL injury that's likely to keep him sidelined the entire season.
Hear from Coach Kerr following tonight's 141-122 loss to the LA Clippers https://t.co/IlhduYdafU
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) October 25, 2019
“This is more the reality of the NBA. The last five years we’ve been living in a world that isn’t supposed to exist," Kerr said. "Five years, basically, record-wise, the best stretch anybody has had over five years. This is reality.”
Kerr has tried to manged expectations through training camp and the preseason, saying it will take time for the team to adjust to a vastly different roster. ESPN notes Golden State entered the season with nine players who are 23 years old or younger.
Warriors star Stephen Curry explained there are still plenty of games left in the season to turn things around, though they will have to make drastic changes to improve.
"The easy answer is it's one of 82, but there is some glaring things that we need to correct if we're going to win basketball games consistently," Curry said. "Credit the Clippers. They came off a pretty intense, hard-fought battle in L.A. in game one, so they were battle-tested in terms of being in that situation. They started the first six minutes with that same intensity."
The Warriors travel to Oklahoma City to face the Thunder on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET.