While the Golden State Warriors have not had the start to the year they were hoping for, their championship DNA and foundation still shows itself when the team is at its best. Facing the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night, Golden State took care of business against the worst team in the Western Conference.
Speaking with reporters after the game, Spurs rookie Victor Wembanyama got honest about the challenge of facing Golden State, and specifically their backcourt of Steph Curry and Klay Thompson.
“We learn a lot from these moments,” Wembanyama said. “Golden State obviously is a special team. [Curry and Thompson are] probably the two best shooters of all-time. When you play against them you gotta be focused for 48 minutes, because we’ve seen it happen tonight, but basically every night they play – we got one moment of unfocused and it’s a three, it’s a nice play. It’s really a 48 minute fight. Against an experienced team like that, they took advantage of our mistakes.”
When opponents talk about the Warriors, this is almost always what they cite. While Curry is of course the greatest shooter of all-time, it’s his constant motion that doesn’t allow the defense to relax. If Thompson is also shooting well, it makes things even harder on the defense.
Facing Curry and the Warriors for the first time in his career, Wembanyama got honest about that challenge.