The Minnesota Timberwolves (26-52) shocked the NBA with their 124-117 comeback victory against the Golden State Warriors (69-9) in overtime Tuesday night. Following the defeat, Warriors forward Draymond Green admitted that Golden State may have been distracted by their quest to win an NBA record 73 games and that the team is ready for the regular season to come to an end.
Asked straightforward if the Warriors had begun to focus too much on surpassing the Chicago Bulls' record for wins in a single season, Green answered bluntly: "Honestly? Yes." However, he did say that the team wasn't necessarily "caught up in the hype."
Green also said that the Warriors are ready for the post-season to arrive.
"It's human nature to where, all right, kind of ready for the regular season to end," he said. "Talking 82 games, we get bored with that after awhile. And that's no excuse, just, I'm always give it to y'all real, and that's about as real as I can be. It's kind of at a point now where you're ready for the regular season to be over."
Green added, "Now, saying that, we got to be a better enough ballclub to continue to try to get better with these games and try and go into the playoffs the right way and not stumble in the playoffs, so, think that's something we have to focus on. We got to try to finish out this regular season strong."
In order to set a new NBA record, Golden State will have to win each of the final four games on their schedule. That's no easy task as the Warriors will play the Memphis Grizzlies (42-36) and, more dangerously, the San Antonio Spurs (65-12) in that stretch.
Tuesday night's loss marked Golden States second defeat in their past three games, and it was their second loss at home following Friday's defeat to the Boston Celtics, which ended a stellar 54-game winning streak at home in the regular season.
Though Golden State may be faltering as the regular season comes to a close, they remain the heavy favorite to win the NBA Championship, which would give them two rings in the last two seasons.
