For a while there, it looked like the Warriors would suffer a second straight setback. For most of the first two periods at the Wells Fargo Center yesterday, they were sluggish and off-kilter; perhaps they were still feeling the after-effects of an emotionally charged set-to against the Celtics at the start of their road trip. For all the hype surrounding the battle of the conference leaders, they failed to produce anywhere close to their finest; they came up with just 88 points, 31 off their league-leading clip. And against the Sixers, they began as if their minds remained in New England.
As things turned out, the Warriors would need only 10 minutes and change of the second half to erase a 22-point deficit. And by the time their usual third-quarter blitz ended, they found themselves up by 10; they were outstanding on both ends of the court, putting up a whopping 47 markers AND limiting the Sixers to 15. And so dominant were they that the hosts appeared deflated even with 12 minutes left on the clock.
To be fair, the Sixers continued to play hard, and until the final buzzer. Unfortunately, they lacked both the talent and the experience to upend the Warriors. Once the latter got into the groove, all and sundry, including the 20,318 diehard fans in the arena, accepted the outcome as a foregone conclusion. That said, stalwarts of the red, white, and blue managed to show enough of their potential to offer a brighter future. One day, and sooner rather than later, they may well be good enough to hang with the defending champions.
In the meantime, the Warriors underscore their status as the best of the best of the National Basketball Association. Their loss to the Celtics notwithstanding, they cannot but be deemed the overwhelming favorites to retain the Larry O’Brien Trophy. They’ll get bored, they’ll get challenged, and, yes, they’ll get outplayed at times during the regular season, but when the playoffs arrive and the stakes are much higher, they’re the closest to a sure thing among all the usual suspects.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is the Senior Vice-President and General Manager of Basic Energy Corp.
