Warriors enter 2025 in desperate need of answers as the latest story originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO – Instead of champagne bottles, shot glasses and celebratory hats, when the ball drops and the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve, the Warriors will have to be as creative as their offense once was to ring in the start of 2025.

Can Golden State scour the Garden for a four-leaf clover? Will a rabbit’s foot appear out of nowhere? Would burning down the Warriors’ worst losses bring them luck?

Whatever path the Warriors take, something has to change after another terrible loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Warriors led by one point after the first quarter Monday night, an illusion of what was to come in their 113-95 loss Monday at Chase Center. At the start of the second quarter, neither team was able to score a basket. Andrew Wiggins, four and a half minutes into the quarter, ended the scoreless drought with a floater. However, the Warriors only scored nine more points in the entire remainder of the quarter.

It’s not like the Cavs were great in those 12 minutes and only scored 20 points themselves. However, 11 points for a quarter in an NBA game feels strange for a team with Steph Curry. Those 11 points were a season-low in any quarter for the Warriors, and although their offense improved throughout the game, the same was not the case for the home team.

They took 24 shots and made four in the second quarter. None of her eight 3-point attempts went into the net. The turning point was the beginning of the second half and not the end of the first half.

A Trayce Jackson-Davis And-1 three-point play cut the Warriors’ deficit to five points within the first minute of the third quarter. And then the rush began. On three consecutive Cavs offensive possessions, Donovan Mitchell sank a 3-pointer as the Warriors couldn’t make a shot. Evan Mobley’s three-pointer officially gave Cleveland a 12-0 run in the first two and a half minutes of the second half, putting Golden State in a 17-point hole from which they never came close.

“The key point of the game was Mitchell’s three three-pointers at the start of the third period,” said Steve Kerr. “I think we scored first and then they scored 12 goals in a row and opened the game.”

With three and a half minutes left in the third quarter, the Warriors trailed by 26 points en route to an 18-point loss. The loss wiped out the good feelings of the Warriors’ impressive, gritty win over the Devin Booker-less Phoenix Suns two nights earlier and put them at 16-16 heading into the new year.

Steph Curry went online and summed up what the Warriors are like after such an encouraging start to the season.

“As the kids say, we’re in the middle right now,” Curry said. “We’re just very average.”

The Warriors opened their eyes and brought fear to the league again with their brilliant 12-3 start. Newcomers seemed to be perfect role players. Curry didn’t have to be a superhero for the Warriors to at least appear as a competitive team. Draymond Green played like a Defensive Player of the Year.

A win cures everything, but even in small samples it can hide many flaws. The Cavs, a team that will always be a terrible match for the Warriors with its combination of size, length, athleticism and scoring ability, have now beaten them by 19 and 18 points but lead by 41 and 26 points in the first game Monday night.

There were a handful of losses to inferior teams and a number of games where Golden State fell by the wayside. A 12-3 start to the season gave plenty of reasons for optimism. Since it’s between 4 and 13, everyone’s been wondering what’s going on.

“You are what your record says,” Kerr said. “I think Bill Parcells said that, and I think there’s a lot of truth in that. We obviously fell behind from that early start when we had a lot of momentum and a lot of good flow.

“I know because I’ve seen it – the way we started – I know it’s in us and I know we can get there. But it’s definitely a struggle at the moment.”

Just at the moment the Warriors could make a move, they went out and acquired Dennis Schröder from the Brooklyn Nets on December 14th. They’ve gone 2-5 since then, and Schroder looked like a shell of the version that thrived in Brooklyn.

Not only did the Warriors finish the portion of their 2024 season as a .500 team, they are currently the No. 10 seed in the Western Conference and the final play-in tournament team. Like Kerr, Curry isn’t losing faith. At the same time, the Warriors are 2.5 games out of the play-in tournament and 3.5 games out of the top four in the West.

Being satisfied with the current product cannot be the answer. Curry knows that there must be an immediate sense of urgency from top to bottom.

“I think we understand that better days may lie ahead,” Curry said. “If you look at the rankings, you’re not in that big of a hole in the Western Conference. You play five or six games and it sounds like a lot to us, but it’s the numbers. You can make up a lot of ground pretty quickly.

“It is a difficult task, but we are there on that fine line between losing hope and confidence and realizing that after a good week you are back.”

Center. The perfect opportunity to change the tides and enjoy what 2025 will bring, or watch the waves crush any hope as Curry’s 37th birthday approaches.

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