With Historic Start Over, Warriors Now Face Their Toughest Opponent—Themselves

MILWAUKEE — The lesson from this first failure is the exact same as the 24 successes that came before it.

The Golden State Warriors run this league.

They are the best. And the only way they don't repeat as NBA champions is if they don't play up to their potential.

The main reason they finally lost Saturday night to the Milwaukee Bucks, 108-95, was the schedule. The Warriors had been on the road for two weeks, pushed themselves extraordinarily to win in double overtime in Boston the night before and thus mentally and physically weren't in position to perform to their standard.

The Warriors get that, which is why they were disappointed but not crushed about losing under the circumstances.

"Y'all thought we were going to be sad," Draymond Green said in the postgame locker room.

You could tell Stephen Curry, the more goal-oriented of the Warriors' two leaders, was a little deflated.

"Thirty-three was within our grasp," said Curry, bringing up the 1972 Los Angeles Lakers' all-time best streak compared to Golden State's 28 dating back to last season.

Yet Curry was also feeling the fatigue of this run, an undeniable indicator of the Warriors' increasing reliance on him as the streak went on.

The Warriors have some balance to regain in their system now that the streak is over. Yes, they are still great, but they can be even better.

They slipped markedly in defensive activity and rotations as the seven-game trip went on. And in the final games in Boston and Milwaukee, Golden State looked a lot like a regular NBA team on offense—not moving the ball quickly to the open man for open shots and so often waiting for Curry to run toward the ball and create something the way superstars can do in this league.

Klay Thompson sitting out Friday and shooting poorly in his return from an ankle sprain Saturday was part of it, though, as was Harrison Barnes' ongoing injury absence. Their long-range shooting is a lot more dependable than Green's or Andre Iguodala's.

Both the Celtics and Bucks trapped Curry aggressively, with Celtics coach Brad Stevens managing to send waves of defenders while accomplishing his primary objective of never letting Curry have his back cuts. Despite suffering untimely turnovers, Curry actually was applauded by the Warriors coaches for his progress in doing what they want in those situations: make poised, fundamentally sound, reverse-pivot moves to deliver precise passes instead of just jumping to throw over oncoming defenders.

The greater goal Steve Kerr has put out there for this team is to master his offense, and that means players being able to read the defense and react on the fly as opposed to via play design. We've seen a lot of that already early in the streak, and the scary thing for the rest of the NBA is if the Warriors go back to the practice court now that they've lost and dedicate themselves to that.

But that could present something of a challenge. Without perfection to push them, it's on the Warriors now to dodge the malaise of theoretically meaningless regular-season games and maintain their joy for growth and the game. April—or June—remains way, way off.

Luke Walton acknowledged before reaching Milwaukee that "one of the reasons we haven't had a letdown" is the high-wire act of the streak: Guys feel all these eyes on them and use that energy to concentrate more.

"Our guys love the pressure," Walton said. "Our guys play better the bigger the stage is."

The attention isn't going away entirely, but it is going to decrease now.

And if the Warriors stagnate and don't improve, if they don't clean up their execution, the rest of the league will get a chance to play catch-up—especially when it comes to a playoff series, where the shock value of Golden State's speed-and-shooting system is gone.   

Before his team played the Warriors to the wire a week ago in Toronto, Raptors coach Dwane Casey said Golden State most certainly does have weaknesses you can dig into the more you prepare for them.

"Getting up for a team like this on a one-night basis is very difficult," Casey said. "In a seven-game series, it's a little bit different."

That's the tortoise-style challenge that lies in front of the Warriors hares now that the thrill-a-minute streak to start the season is over:

Go from a team already with more ways to win than anyone else to a team that truly and comfortably can execute each of those ways to win for sure in June.

If the Warriors are patient and detail-oriented enough to make that incremental growth—instead of getting bored or bogged down by individual interests—then we know now, after they completed the greatest start to a season in professional sports history, that the rest of the NBA doesn't stand a chance.

Kevin Ding is an NBA senior writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, @KevinDing.