Golden State Warriors: A reminder of the switch they know when to flip

Despite the proverbial regular season grind, the Golden State Warriors still know when to flip the switch and remind us all what they’re capable of.

The Golden State Warriors have become such an interesting case study over these last four-plus title-contending years, mainly because we’ve never seen a team like them in the modern era.

Most franchises capable of winning championships have a generous window to capitalize on, but given how long the Dubs have been able to maintain their level of greatness, that window has stayed open much longer than most could only dream of.

Because of that, we’ve begun to watch Golden State play the long game, conserving energy during the regular season and expending it come postseason time.

With that style in mind comes consequences. The Warriors seem more and more vulnerable with each championship run, suffering defeats over the 82 games most would expect them to dominate.

Yes, Golden State seems less bullet-proof than in years past, owing to the age and attrition its greatness has afforded, coupled with a lack of depth past the core group of veterans.

Rarely, though, have their struggles been about either of those things. It’s just a matter of getting opponents’ very best on a nightly basis while remaining smart enough to save their own for when it truly counts.

However, that preservation technique hasn’t stopped the Dubs from sending a friendly reminder every once in a while, with the latest example being a matchup against the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday night.

The Nuggets had owned the No. 1 seed heading into this matchup at the Pepsi Center, in part because of Golden State’s indifference towards its place in the standings. We saw the same thing last year when the Houston Rockets won a league-best 65 games only to lose to the Warriors in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals.

It’s unlikely any sane person believed Denver could hang with the two-time defending champions, but the team had still managed to impress with its level of play nonetheless.

Golden State saw this game as a chance to remind the NBA world what it’s capable of at any given moment against a team playing at an extremely high level. In doing exactly so, the Warriors would go on to win by a final score of 142-111, including a 51-point first quarter — the most in league history over the first 12 minutes.

The Warriors are great. We know that much. You don’t win three titles in fours year by accident, and the Dubs have done so with relative ease, halting teams with their versatility on defense and deflating them just the same with their passing and outside shooting.

And yet, over the last couple of regular seasons at least, the general public tends to forget the level of greatness Golden State is capable of reaching. Its struggles on offense become more frequent than ever, while the effort defensively slowly declines with each year.

So they slog through most of those grueling 82 games at a level lower than that of the extremely high bar they’ve set, and both media and fans begin to wonder if this is hopefully the year the reign comes to an end.

If 2019 is when the kingdom falls, it won’t be because of what the Warriors can’t do. They’re an experienced bunch with an eye on the ultimate prize, and if they feel like reminding you of such, they’ll be happy to do so.