Tuesday's stunning second home loss in three games leaves the Warriors needing to run the table to reach a record 73 wins, and forward Draymond Green concedes that the team is merely ready for the regular season to end.
The hype surrounding the Warriors' run at the 1995-96 Bulls' mark has hung over the season to the point that Green was asked Tuesday night whether his team had gotten caught up in the possibilities.
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"Honestly? Yes," he responded (via ESPN.com), but then corrected the characterization. "I wouldn't necessarily say 'caught up in the hype.'"
More likely, he said, the Warriors have been run down by an 82-game season.
"It's human nature to where, alright, kind of ready for the regular season to end," Green said. "Talking 82 games, we get bored with that after a while. And that's no excuse, just, I'm always give it to y'all real, and that's about as real as I can be. It's kind of at a point now where you're ready for the regular season to be over.
"Now, saying that, we got to be a better enough ballclub to continue to try to get better with these games and try and go into the playoffs the right way and not stumble in the playoffs, so, think that's something we have to focus on. We got to try to finish out this regular season strong."
Things don't get any easier. The Warriors (69-9) face the Spurs (65-12) on Thursday in Oakland and again Sunday in San Antonio, sandwiched around Saturday's game at Memphis (42-36) before finishing at home next Wednesday against the Grizzlies.
The Spurs still have a mathematical shot at catching the Warriors for the Western Conference's No. 1 seed.
