Philippines, 15 Jun 2025
  Home >> News

 


BOXERS

CURRENT CHAMPIONS 

FORMER CHAMPIONS   

RATINGS                       

NEWS           

FORUM        

FIGHT GALLERIES        

RING CARD GIRLS        


 
 
News  


Quo vadis, Warriors?


PhilBoxing.com





Four years ago, the Golden State Warriors hired Steve Kerr as coach in what, by design, started the team?s road to greatness. Since then, Kerr?s Warriors made three finals appearances, winning two NBA championships and establishing the greatest regular season record of 73 wins as against 9 losses.

After bowing to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016 and losing, in the process, the title won the previous year, the Warriors acquired Kevin Durant from the free agent in addition to their ?Splash Brothers? Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson and defense specialist Draymond Green, turning them from a solid team to ?Super Team.?

The Warriors, indeed, looked to have found the needed ingredients on how to be great. Their best players were young and seemingly healthy. They have arrived in year four. So it seemed.

Going into the playoffs this season, Curry, Durant, Thompson and Green, their All-Star players, are suffering from separate injuries that would prevent them from seeing action in crucial games although they looked safe to making it to make the first round with a second place finish behind West Conference leader Houston Rockets.

Curry, the main cog in the Warriors? offensive machine, was able to return from another ankle injury to only leave the game against Atlanta with a Grade 2 MCL sprain. Durant's return from a rib injury, likewise, ended early. The All-Star forward was ejected with 2.4 seconds left in the first half of the Golden State Warriors' 116-107 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday night.

Green, who missed the three previous games due to pelvic contusion and flu-like symptoms, returned, too, and had 11 points and six assists. Thomson, according to Golden State team website, will soon suit up. Meanwhile, the Warriors had dropped their third straight game and seventh in 10 outings, allowing the Houston Rockets to lock up the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. They outlasted the Phoenix Suns, 104-103, Saturday.

Golden State remains firmly in the No. 2 slot in the West and Kerr refused to make too much out of Durant's ejection. Durant leads the NBA with five ejections and now has 14 technical fouls, two short of the threshold for a one-game suspension. Durant, who had 10 points, six assists and three rebounds in 17 minutes against the Hawks, said of his conversations with the refs, "I could definitely talk to them a little better, I guess."

Having the largest Filipino population in California, the San Francisco Bay Area, in particular, the Golden State Warriors, it can safely be said, command, too, the biggest Filipino fan base the whole of the United States. Curry?s mother, Sonya Curry, no less acknowledged this when the Warriors ended their 40-year NBA title drought in 2015, thanking the support of the Filipinos to the team?s campaign.

For the past several years, the Warriors have been hosting a Filipino Heritage Night annually by way of acknowledging the basketball-crazy Filipinos? support to the team. Why, the first Filipino-American, Raymond Townsend, was the Filipino fans? first NBA icon. At 6'3," Townsend suited up as point guard for the Warriors shortly after being picked in the first round of the 1978 NBA draft.

Townsend played for UCLA first before getting to the NBA and becoming a member of the Golden State Warriors. It is for these two reasons why Filipinos in the U.S. and here in their mother country are worried of their favorite team?s fate in the coming playoffs.

If Warriors owner Joe Jacob is to be believed though, there?s nothing to worry about. Jacob, the latest member of the organization to express an unshakable belief in the Warriors overcoming obstacles and making a deep run in the post season. Contrary to what many believe, Jacob, in fact, thinks the Rockets could be out before potential playoff showdown.

Lacob has strong belief, the Warriors will reach the Western Conference Finals. The Houston Rockets, on the other hand, may not. ?We don?t know what?s going to happen. Houston could get upset if you?re so worried about Houston,? Lacob said earlier this week during an interview with San Francisco?s 95.7 The Game, via The Mercury News.

?They are the best right now, there?s no doubt. They are the best team and we?re looking up to them but that doesn?t mean they?ll be there. We may be there and they might not be there. You have to prove it on the court.? As Lacob noted, the Rockets (61-14), should, indeed, be regarded as the team to beat in the west. Houston is absolutely rolling, by having won 27 of its past 28 games, highlighted a previous 17-game winning streak and their current 10-game run of consecutive victories.

But as Warriors are well aware, everything changes come postseason time. It?s which team is playing best at the time. It would appear from Lacob?s comments ? not to mention what Steve Kerr recently said ? that when it comes down to it, the Warriors will be the team to beat, not the Rockets.

Whether that is true or not, though, remains to be seen.


Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea.


Recent PhilBoxing.com In-House articles:

  • THAI SIMSRI READY FOR CHRISTIAN ARANETA IN IBF WORLD TITLE SHOWDOWN THURSDAY IN JAPAN; WILL THE CEBUANO “BOMB” STOP HIM?
    By Carlos Costa, , Sun, 15 Jun 2025
  • Pinoy Power! Pacquiao, Donaire, and Araneta Ready to Shine in World Title Fights
    By Carlos Costa, , Sun, 15 Jun 2025
  • “PROSPECTS COLLIDE” TAKES CENTER STAGE
    , Sun, 15 Jun 2025
  • Nonito Donaire Favorite to Beat Andrés Campos for WBA Interim World Title; Both Men Make Weight Ready in Argentina!
    By Carlos Costa, , Sat, 14 Jun 2025
  • Oklahoma Forces 2-2 Finals Series Tie, Starves Indiana for Point in 111-104 Win
    By Teodoro Medina Reynoso, , Sat, 14 Jun 2025
  • PROSPECTS COLLIDE OFFICIAL WEIGH-IN RESULTS
    , Sat, 14 Jun 2025
  • Hitchins vs. Kambosos: Can George Be More Than A Faded Name?
    By Chris Carlson, , Sat, 14 Jun 2025
  • Four Boxers Advance to Gold Medal Matches on Day Three of World Boxing Challenge Grand Prix Usti Nad Labem
    , Sat, 14 Jun 2025
  • WEIGHTS FROM NEW YORK: HITCHINS - 140 LBS., KAMBOSOS - 139.4 LBS.
    By Dong Secuya, , Sat, 14 Jun 2025
  • Gaviola to face Narukami in Gensan
    By Lito delos Reyes, , Sat, 14 Jun 2025
  • Pacquiao Steps Up Training
    By Dong Secuya, , Sat, 14 Jun 2025
  • Balla stops Cabalquinto in 4th round
    By Lito delos Reyes, , Sat, 14 Jun 2025
  • Eight-year-old Marius Constante sweeps 5-round chess fest in Cebu
    By Marlon Bernardino, , Sat, 14 Jun 2025
  • Promoter Sampson Lewkowicz and Top Lightweight Contender Edwin De Los Santos Part Ways Amicably
    , Sat, 14 Jun 2025
  • Unification WBA & IBA Pro title fight Albert Batyrgaziev vs James Dickens to crown boxing show in Istanbul on 2 July
    , Fri, 13 Jun 2025
  • How the Ring's P4P Ranking Has Strayed from the Norms of Nat and Nigel
    By Teodoro Medina Reynoso, , Fri, 13 Jun 2025
  • FINAL PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES FROM HITCHINS VS. KAMBOSOS JR
    , Fri, 13 Jun 2025
  • MOST VALUABLE PROMOTIONS UNVEILS REMAINING PRELIMINARY CARD BOUTS FOR JAKE PAUL VS. JULIO CESAR CHAVEZ JR.
    , Fri, 13 Jun 2025
  • Jean Henri Lhuillier: Leading Philippine Softball’s Unstoppable Rise to International Dominance
    By Marlon Bernardino, , Fri, 13 Jun 2025
  • Team USA Sends Seven Boxers to the Medal Rounds Thursday at World Boxing Challenge Grand Prix Usti Nad Labem 2025
    , Fri, 13 Jun 2025
  • Jerusalem, Taduran 1-2 at Minimumweight; Llover Enters Bantam in Ring's Latest Ratings
    By Teodoro Medina Reynoso, , Fri, 13 Jun 2025
  • July 26: Rohan Polanco-Quinton Randall Welterweight Showdown Tops Xander Zayas-Jorge Garcia Undercard at The Theater at Madison Square Garden
    , Fri, 13 Jun 2025
  • Round 12 with Mauricio Sulaimàn: Weekend at the International Boxing Hall Of Fame
    By Mauricio Sulaimán, , Thu, 12 Jun 2025
  • Nonito Donaire to fight again, faces Campos on June 14
    By Lito delos Reyes, , Thu, 12 Jun 2025
  • Cabalquinto Set to Face Australian Balla on Maniatis Card
    , Thu, 12 Jun 2025




  •  



     
    PhilBoxing.com has been created to support every aspiring
    Filipino boxer and the Philippine boxing scene in general.
    Please send comments to feedback@philboxing.com


    PRIVATE POLICY | LEGAL DISCLAIMER
    developed and maintained by dong secuya
    © 2025 philboxing.com.