You’ve got to love it when a team has confidence.
Ideally, the confidence is tied to reality, however. Warriors swingman Kent Bazemore is full of confidence, judging by his comments to reporters on Wednesday, ahead of Golden State’s game against the Nuggets that night. Here’s part of what he said, thanks to Connor Letourneau of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Bazemore says the Warriors will be a force, but is that tied to reality? Or is Baze simply “Bazemore-ing” (cheering loud and proud from the Dubs’ bench) verbally?
I say Bazemore is correct. Now, how much of a force the team is depends on myriad factors. Of chief concern right now is the Warriors inability to defeat gimmick defenses like the box-and-one. The team’s leading man, guard Stephen Curry, is the main reason to be confident, but defenses are taking him away fairly effectively by leaving other Warriors players open and paying Curry extra attention.
Curry is still getting his, to be sure. But it’s players such as Bazemore (and the entire rest of the roster, essentially) that are most responsible for relieving the pressure on Curry, who is working extremely hard to beat multiple defenders on almost every possession.
So again, confidence is still fantastic no matter what — as long as Bazemore knows where his team needs to improve, and coach Steve Kerr is certainly working on that. Specifically, he’s spoken about beating the box-and-one. So let’s see if the Warriors can be a force against the Nuggets and whatever janky defense they come up with on Thursday night.
Bay Area Sports Hub 