Back to the future: Warriors vs. Hornets

The Golden State Warriors played admirably on Saturday night, almost stealing a win against the Charlotte Hornets despite Steph Curry’s absence. In the big picture, that’s good to see. In the small picture, it makes the wacky and wild loss all the more maddening.

Let’s see how they did with their pregame keys to victory.

Swag

The key: Shake off Friday’s disappointing game and bring the confidence, swagger, and passion from the tip.

The outcome: The Warriors definitely did not have swagger and confidence from the opening tip, but they’re allowed a pass there. Curry was a game-time scratch, so the Dubs didn’t have time to adjust for his absence, and seemed pretty frazzled and out of sorts.

After the initial frame, they did a pretty good job finding their footing and their confidence with it.

Grading the key: 6 out of 10.

Energy

The key: Muster energy on the back end of a road back-to-back against a team that didn’t play Friday.

The outcome: There are a lot of bad things that you can say about the Warriors’ performance on Saturday night. That they didn’t bring the energy, however, is not one of those things.

Golden State had solid energy and fight for 48 minutes. It was a game that shouldn’t have been as close as it was, and it’s a testament to their spirit that it was.

Grading the key: 8.5 out of 10.

Stop Hayward

The key: Limit Gordon Hayward’s offensive opportunities.

The outcome: The Warriors held Hayward to just 13 points on 5-for-11 shooting, with no free throws attempted. He played well, but was far from the star that he’s been for the bulk of the season.

Terry Rozier, on the other hand ...

Grading the key: 7.5 out of 10.

Chef Curry

The key: Steph Curry go off.

The outcome: Curry did not play as he was feeling ill with non-coronavirus symptoms prior to the game.

Grading the key: Incomplete.

Not gonna be a fun two games to bounce back from, but the Warriors have no choice.