They beat back the fatigue that comes with traveling for the second night of a back-to-back set, even when it was evident they were running on empty.
They held off several comebacks, even when it appeared they might not.
They even survived a forgettable night by Stephen Curry.
The Warriors went into Milwaukee on Saturday and not only won a game they easily could have lost but in doing so succeeded under conditions they’ll have to master if they are to have that postseason they’re expecting.
The Warriors dug in and spread out and, in those final desperate minutes, with their lead shrinking and their offense stalled, found enough fight to walk out of Bradley Center with a 124-121 victory.
That it came against the mediocre Bucks means it was merely a trial, but trials are what must be passed numerous times before that parade can become a reality.
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“We’ve played in some tight games, but none down to the wire like this one,” Kevin Durant, who scored a game-high 33 points, told reporters in Milwaukee. “It was a good test for us. Second night of a back-to-back to see how we respond coming into a building with a lot of energy, and a young team that was ready for us. I think we played fairly well.”
Well, yes, the Warriors thrived during certain stretches of the game, particularly midway through the third quarter, when they looked up at the scoreboard, saw they were down 78-77 and immediately went on a 19-6 run to take a lead they never lost.
Then came the fourth quarter, and the Warriors executing at a level that is beneath them. They fell into one-on-one offense. They rushed shots. Thought their legs were tired, they allowed themselves to get lured into running with the fresh, frisky Bucks.
Next thing they knew, the 116-104 lead they had with 7:32 left was a 122-120 lead with 2:33 remaining.
“We just didn’t make shots,” Durant said. “I think we had good looks. I missed a wide-open three in the corner. I missed a pull-up in the lane. Steph missed a pull-up 3. Klay (Thompson) had a shot that he missed. We just have to slow down a bit. They tried to put a little pressure on us and they sped us up just a little bit.”
The Warriors shot 31.8 percent in the fourth. They made two field goals over the final 5:35, a follow slam by Andre Iguodala and a driving floater by Curry, who scored 20 points on 7-fof-21 shooting.
“We needed to play with more force; we got really stagnant,” Kerr said. “We were throwing a lot of very poor post feeds. We were trying to pick miss matches and throw these lazy lob passes over the top. That slowed us down quite a bit. We need to play with more force, harder cutting, better screening. You don’t want to just stop playing at the end of a game.”
The Warriors didn’t exactly stop playing; they just stopped playing offense at the level needed to bury the Bucks.
The Warriors did, however, summon enough defense to hold on, holding Milwaukee to one field goal over the final 3:07.
And when the Bucks had one final chance to tie or take a lead, there was Draymond Green to make sure they did not.
With the Warriors up 122-120 and 10.1 seconds left, Milwaukee guard Tony Snell tried to throw an inbounds pass to Giannis Antetokounmpo. Green overplayed the pass and flicked to Thompson. He was fouled, and then made a pair of free throws.
“I think that’s disrespectful to me,” said Green, a member of the NBA All-Defensive team. “I take that as disrespect. Don’t go at me for game.”
“And course I’ll say that, and next game they’ll get game or something.”
Despite Milwaukee shooting a season-best 50 percent (10-of-20) from beyond the arc, the Warriors left Wisconsin with their first win of fewer than five points. They battled on the glass (55-53 advantage in rebounds) and battled on defense when it mattered most.
“Any win period is a good win, but especially on a back-to-back on a night where we didn’t quite have it,” Kerr said. “Our opponent played an exceptional game. I thought Milwaukee was fantastic. We were able to pull it out. We made some stops down the stretch, got some rebounds and did what we needed to do.”
