Golden State Warriors Win at Home, Which Is Part of Their Problem

When the Warriors return to Sacramento, the crowd almost certainly will be unforgiving, especially to Green, who stood on a table there and yelled at heckling fans before being ejected in the Game 2 loss. Even at Chase Center on Thursday night, fans in purple and black Sacramento gear were sprinkled throughout the sea of gold T-shirts, desperately trying to bring a taste of Golden State’s road woes to its home. Yet the cheers for the Kings and boos for the Warriors were always drowned out by the home fans roars.

But the journey has been like this for Golden State. With Curry, they became the league’s most exciting show for years, dazzling and changing the N.B.A. with dynamic 3-point shooting on their way to four championships. But as much as their dominance has brought the Warriors new fandom, like with any dynasty, it has made opposing teams and fans even more determined to be the team to dethrone them.

That energy seemed apparent in its second-round series against Memphis last season, when the Grizzlies and their raucous fans seemed not to care much about the pedigree of the Warriors, initiating trash talk with the team’s stars.

There was also the Houston Rockets team led by James Harden and Chris Paul that had the Warriors on the brink of elimination in 2018, leading their playoff series, 3-2.

But both seasons ended with Golden State championships. In 2018, Golden State won Game 7 against Houston on the road to advance to the N.B.A. finals. Last season, after they got past Memphis and then Dallas, they beat the Boston Celtics in the N.B.A. finals in Game 6 — on the road. They’ve shown that they can brave the harsh road crowds and win. The Warriors hope that their road struggles this year are just one more difficult chapter in another championship book.

“We’ve conquered all the rest of them,” Green said after Game 2, “so why not go conquer this one?”

Scott Cacciola contributed reporting.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/21/sports/basketball/warriors-kings-game-3.html