Maybe they were looking ahead to Christmas Day and the highly promoted NBA Finals rematch in Cleveland.
Or maybe they were complacent, peeping over at the rebuilding Brooklyn Nets and prematurely counting the win.
More likely, the Warriors simply needed some time to adjust to the physical and emotional absence of firebrand forward Draymond Green.
That would explain how on earth the Warriors found themselves trailing the Nets by 16 at the half before pulling themselves together in the second half Thursday night and walking out of Barclays Center with a 117-101 victory.
Once the Warriors (26-4) realized Green would not be joining them – he returned to the Bay Area early Thursday for the birth of his son – they made the proper modifications and left the Nets in the dust.
"We had a terrible performance in the first half," Stephen Curry said, "And we switched it up in the second and brought some energy and got some stops and brought some excitement to what we were doing out there and it worked for us.
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"We obviously don't want to give a team a 16-point lead, but it just sends a message out that if we get stops and pay attention to that end of the floor, we're usually in good shape."
The third quarter was a beauty to behold. Curry got things started with a quick steal, which led to a fast-break dunk and an and-1 for Kevin Durant. Though they still trailed by 13, this was a very different team than which had surrendered so meekly in the first half.
Durant's 3-point play ignited a 24-5 run that gave the Warriors a 73-70 lead with 5:17 left in the third quarter. They won the quarter with defense, forcing 11 Brooklyn turnovers and turning them into 17 of their 39 third-quarter points.
"We played with a little bit more force to start the second half," Durant said. "After the break, we just regrouped, reset and were physical with them. We knew this team would turn the ball over. We got some turnovers, got some easy points."
Warriors coach Steve Kerr had a slightly different, rather wry, take on what transpired in the third quarter.
"Transition defense was horrible in the first half," Kerr said. "Just our overall attention span was bad. The millennials struggled in the first half, but the locked in in the second half and started to defend."
Behind a defense that forced 18 turnovers (leading to 25 points), the Warriors outscored the Nets 68-36 after halftime to take over the proceedings. Though center Zaza Pachulia (15 points, 14 rebounds, four assists) acquitted himself well throughout, not until everybody joined in was the league's least-talented team exposed.
"They're a young team," said Durant, who scored a team-high 26 points. "They're getting better every game, but we knew at some point they'd let us back in. We didn't know when, but we just wanted it to be early in the second half."
Brooklyn forged a 65-49 lead at the half by attacking on offense, pushing the pace and shooting 9-of-20 from 3-point range. The Warriors were out of rhythm at both ends, surely affected by Green's absence, and shot only 38.2 percent.
"It was two totally different halves," Kerr said. "They were the aggressors in the first half; they were pushing our offense up to half court. We were settling for everything, and they were driving the ball down our throats and I felt like it kind of flipped in the second half. So the defensive intensity really did change everything."
That's the common thread when the Warriors fight out of a hole. They defend and defend until the opponent starts to unravel. The Warriors posted 14 steals in the second half, with Curry nabbing five.
The Nets (7-21) were done.
"We had confidence that we would get back in the game and it took a lot of energy out of us," Curry said. "So to close the gap the way we did, it gave us an opportunity to withstand a minor run from them that you knew was going to happen and still keep at them and take control of the game."
