This "super insane tough never-been-done-before stretch of games for the warriors"

[Chews]

To recap the Warriors "journey," as Kerr calls it: The Warriors played Feb. 25 in Oakland; flew across the country for a game in Philadelphia on Feb. 27; flew overnight to Washington DC for a back-to-back on Feb. 28; jetted to Chicago for a Mar. 2 game; hopped on a flight back to the East Coast for a game at Madison Square garden on Mar. 5; flew down to Atlanta for a back-to-back on Mar. 6; jetted across the country to host the Celtics in Oakland before embarking on another back-to-back in Minnesota and San Antonio.

Article taken from BSPN. This all, to me, is being overplayed and exaggerated. Lets break this down...

The Warriors played Feb. 25 in Oakland; flew across the country for a game in Philadelphia on Feb. 27: Normal? You get a home game and then two days later you get a game vs scrubs at their place.

flew overnight to Washington DC for a back-to-back on Feb. 28: Good opponent on the second night of a b2b. Harder than average but still nothing out of the ordinary.

jetted to Chicago for a Mar. 2 game: A day between 2 games going against a mediocre Bulls team. Seems normal to me.

hopped on a flight back to the East Coast for a game at Madison Square garden on Mar. 5: 3 days later! You go "all the way back" to the east coast to play a very bad Knicks team... off 2 days of rest... seems normal.

flew down to Atlanta for a back-to-back on Mar. 6: Another good opponent on the second night of a b2b. The hawks aren't a super team but they're playoff worthy. Just like the first b2b, though, you're coming off a game against one of the worst teams in the NBA.

jetted across the country to host the Celtics in Oakland: Two days later you get a home game against the Celtics. Still don't see anything out of the ordinary. Maybe it's because they had to "jet across the country", lmfao.

before embarking on another back-to-back in Minnesota and San Antonio: Tough b2b playing against the Wolves, a team not seeded in the playoffs currently, and the Spurs, a very tough opponent in their own building on the second night of a b2b.

To state my own opinion on this, I believe this stretch of games to be above average when factoring travel + skill of opponent. However, this is not something that is crazy and out of the ordinary. The most notable things are the 3 playoff teams on the second night of a back to back but even with that, the Hawks and Wizards are far from the Spurs and Warriors. You face the 76ers on the first night before the Wizards and you face the Knicks before taking on the Hawks. Against both the Sixers and Knicks you shouldn't have to overplay your starters and be able to get them enough rest where going out the next night isn't a concern. I mean, shit, if you are that concerned rest a guy and your team (Warriors) still should be able to beat the Sixers and Knicks. The b2b with the Wolves and then Spurs is brutal because thats not an easy flight from Minny to San Antonio and the Spurs are cream of the crop along with the Cavs, Warriors, Rockets, and the Warriors themselves. Outside of that b2b, nothing else is something the Warriors haven't faced many times before.

I don't think this stretch of games warrants the level of complaints given from Iggy, Kerr, and the rest of their bunch, fans included. Calling the players of the NBA slaves :lol

Don't let this post distract you from the fact that the Warriors blew a 3-1 lead in the finals with home court advantage.

[LittleCriminal]

I agree 100% with this

[UZER]

It's the same crap all the time. When one of the ESPN "darlings" faces any kind of adversity, they jump on any spin and excuse they can make for them and drag it on and on and on for days

This happens to anyone else, its completely ignored or "quit your bitching" articles.

[LoneStarState'sPride]

Meh, it's always a little tougher, travel-wise, for squads on the coasts, particularly the west coast. Not like the GSW organization is new to this, they just are looking for sympathy/a scapegoat when folks criticize them for sitting players.

[K...]

Maybe if u rested during the trip, you would not have to sit out all your guys at once. Oops they have no depth so they can't rest anyone without losing but they lost anyways, so the moral of the story is that durant and. Curry are both fragile chuckers who probably have synched their menstrual periods by now.

[Chews]

Maybe if u rested during the trip, you would not have to sit out all your guys at once. Oops they have no depth so they can't rest anyone without losing but they lost anyways, so the moral of the story is that durant and. Curry are both fragile chuckers who probably have synched their menstrual periods by now.

Why rest vs San Antonio who was 1.5 GB at the time and not @Minny who you still may be able to beat without a star or two. A big gripe I have is why bite the hand that feeds you? NBA just saw a big spike in revenue because of television, now the player got there money they want to hurt those ratings? Ignorance. Just on top of the fact the schedule wasn't even as bad as they are claiming.

[HarlemHeat37]

You would never see this type of scheduling in the NHL, tbh..

[BillMc]

Good post OP

I remember when ESPN came to the Spurs defense when they had to sleep on a plane the night before a playoff game against the Lakers in 08.

Oh, wait! They didn't...

[Maddog]

Anyone remember a similar stretch for the Spurs?
I can't off the top of my head, but seems to me they have had some tough stretches.
Seems like there where a few rest days in there

On the other hand despite that recent fury of games they've played only 1 game more than the Spurs. Meaning before that it was pretty easygoing and now finish up with a relatively milder schedule. The Boston game was dumb schedule wise, but if they had ate that one (rested) they would have been better off.

[808]

I remember when ESPN came to the Spurs defense when they had to sleep on a plane the night before a playoff game against the Lakers in 08.

Oh, wait! They didn't...

This!

[Hoops Czar]

You would never see this type of scheduling in the NHL, tbh..

The NBA is a ratings whore and they have a television schedule to deal with. They need to fill those time slots with games people actually want to watch. Unfortunately, that means adjusting their schedules to meet the demand of the networks. West coast teams feel it the most because every road game they play outside of the western seaboard mean playing in another time zone.

Also, the NHL starts the season 2 weeks in advance of the NBA so they have a lot more leeway in terms of scheduling.

[DMC]

Where's Kerr's 250K fine?

[DMC]

Also, soldiers away from home for months at a time, getting paid shit and here a bunch of uneducated recipients of the genetic lottery complain about having to work every other day for 20 million a year.

[DieHardSpursFan1537]

It's the same crap all the time. When one of the ESPN "darlings" faces any kind of adversity, they jump on any spin and excuse they can make for them and drag it on and on and on for days

This happens to anyone else, its completely ignored or "quit your bitching" articles.
This. The Warriors are ESPN's sweetheart team now (replacing the Cavs). Thus, ESPN is going to come up with excuses at every turn to defend the Warriors for any of their shortcomings.

[UNT Eagles 2016]

The Spurs have had it way worse in years past.... remember December of 2014? How about December of 2012 when we almost beat the Heatles in Miami with literally nobody? Also, February of 2003 (a championship year) was just brutal... we went 8-1 on a RRT that concluded with back to back games in LAL and SAC, two top West teams at the time... LAL on Saturday night, and SAC on Sunday afternoon. We won them both.

[Mr. Body]

It's not like they don't have chartered jets and are dropped off right onto their buses to the hotels. Travel is grueling, but as luxurious as possible for these guys.

The Spurs' rodeo road trips are fairly bad, but they use it to gel as a team, but the Warriors are fragile at core and they're crumbling.

[Chews]

Anyone remember a similar stretch for the Spurs?
I can't off the top of my head, but seems to me they have had some tough stretches.
Seems like there where a few rest days in there

On the other hand despite that recent fury of games they've played only 1 game more than the Spurs. Meaning before that it was pretty easygoing and now finish up with a relatively milder schedule. The Boston game was dumb schedule wise, but if they had ate that one (rested) they would have been better off.

Spurs just played 6 road games in 9 days for the first half of the RRT.

From March 1st to March 13, Spurs will be playing 8 games.

The thing that I'm trying to say is, while this stretch for GSW isn't easy, its not worthy of the criticism it's getting from the Warriors' team and fans.

[Ice009]

Where's the link to the article?

[DeRozan m8]

Bunch of pussies

[xtremesteven33]

You would never see this type of scheduling in the NHL, tbh..

:nope

[cjw]

Why rest vs San Antonio who was 1.5 GB at the time and not @Minny who you still may be able to beat without a star or two. A big gripe I have is why bite the hand that feeds you? NBA just saw a big spike in revenue because of television, now the player got there money they want to hurt those ratings? Ignorance. Just on top of the fact the schedule wasn't even as bad as they are claiming.

ESPECIALLY when you know Kawhi is dealing with concussion protocol and was out for the next game. They obviously didn't know about Aldridge, but you 100% rest your starters against Minnesota and go for the jugular against the Spurs. Warriors take that game and they create a 2 game buffer in the loss column (assuming still lost to Minnesota) and have a chance to take the tiebreaker = Spurs would have to hope for four more Ws losses than them.

[GSH]

Bottom line, the Dubs are losing. Nothing else about this story interests me. Fuck 'em.

[cd98]

Plus the tie breaker w SA was on the line. You win that game and it's 1-1. Now if the end up with the same record, Spurs take the one seed.

[hater]

And Killary lost because of the Russians :cry

[cutewizard]

warriors are shit, period.

[Spurtacular]

Shouldn't the back to back MVP be rising to the challenge? With Durant going out, this would be his chance to win a third in a row and as a dark horse. Guess Curry's just a paper tiger though.

[BG_Spurs_Fan]

They're 2nd for most miles traveled this season behind Portland I think.

[SnakeBoy]

Where's Kerr's 250K fine?

Totally different scenario. Pop rested his really old star players and Kerr rested his perfectly healthy young star players. See it's different.

[skulls138]

Why rest vs San Antonio who was 1.5 GB at the time and not @Minny who you still may be able to beat without a star or two. A big gripe I have is why bite the hand that feeds you? NBA just saw a big spike in revenue because of television, now the player got there money they want to hurt those ratings? Ignorance. Just on top of the fact the schedule wasn't even as bad as they are claiming.But arent the players just as much of a hand that feeds? Its mutually beneficial thing.

[Biernutz]

Cry me a river Steve. You didn't need to sit all your mid 25 year old starters
who don't have a declared injury. One or 2 of the starters could have
at least started the game. Did you see all the empty seats on TV?
If the NBA lets the Warriors get away with this then the door is open
to do this anytime and screw the fans. Will Cleveland pull this same
crap when they play here in two weeks? The NBA needs to fine Kerr
at least $250,000 to show the fans that when you do this they will
ding you. Next time you do it $500,000 and so on.

[CGD]

Without intending to, this whole travel narrative plays into the warriors being soft/fragile narrative. Poor little booboos, etc.

[superbigtime]

I think Pop's resting of his players in '12 was more legit than this. Kerr should've managed his best players' minutes during the first night of the b2b's against the weaker opponents. The commentators whined about how unfair it was to all the little GSW fans across the globe and those who had come to the game in particular.

They are lengthening the RS next year by a week or so. Maybe that will accommodate these prima donna athletes and coaches better.

[Chews]

I think Pop's resting of his players in '12 was more legit than this. Kerr should've managed his best players' minutes during the first night of the b2b's against the weaker opponents. The commentators whined about how unfair it was to all the little GSW fans across the globe and those who had come to the game in particular.

They are lengthening the RS next year by a week or so. Maybe that will accommodate these prima donna athletes and coaches better.

"Now we don't have enough time in the offseason to recuperate" :( lol I can see it already!

[superbigtime]

"Now we don't have enough time in the offseason to recuperate" :( lol I can see it already!

Not enough vacation time!

[Chews]

But arent the players just as much of a hand that feeds? Its mutually beneficial thing.

The product on the floor (the players) is proportional to the revenue, yes, but they aren't the ones doing promo's, making deals with networks, etc. Its just that the NBA and ESPN/Turner just agreed to their big deal which spiked revenue (in effect, the players get more $), and then the team turns around and their way of "protesting" is to sit all their stars on national TV, hurting the very people that pay the NBA, fans included, and increase that revenue they get a percent of.

[sammy]

What a bunch of whiny bitches! Geez, how about the Spurs freaking rodeo road trip traveling across country and I don't hear the Spurs players complaining of being tired! Hate GSW!