Golden State Warriors: 3 takeaways from 2017-18 season opener

The Golden State Warriors lost to the Houston Rockets, 122-121, to open the 2017-18 season. Technically, their title defense is off to a rough start, but panic is still lightyears away.

The Golden State Warriors are 0-2 on opening night during the Kevin Durant era, though the two games could not have been more different.

Last year’s opener was a sloppy, jittery clunker. Coming off the most crushing Finals collapse in league history, bad vibes continued to swirl around a dominant yet potentially wobbly franchise.

The 2017-18 opener carried no such negativity. The Warriors lost by one point, as Durant’s game-winning shot was called off after video review. Frustrating, sure, but no one inside or outside of the organization is feeling any pressure.

The Dubs are going to be great, and really, already were for three out of four quarters. For now, they are 0-1, which may very well be the furthest below .500 they get for several years.

In our first “three takeaways” piece of the season, we will mine Golden State’s first game more for its strategic revelations than its significance.