The Warriors are not playing great all-around basketball right now.
Golden State is 4-4 in its last eight games.
Since Dec. 30, the Warriors are 18th in the league in defensive rating.
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But Steve Kerr is optimistic.
“Focus, concentration, energy, level of interest, level of … what's the right word?” Kerr recently said to Anthony Slater of The Athletic. “In basketball, you sort of have to lose yourself in the game. Immerse yourself in the game.
"I don't feel like we've done that enough. We've had too many nights where we've gone through the motions. And yet, I understand it and I'm very confident we've gotten through the woods a little bit and are primed to really take off.”
At 44-14, the Warriors trail the Rockets (44-13) for the top seed in the Western Conference.
Fortunately, for Golden State:
Some of the Warriors' remaining games:
"We always talk about playing up to our standards. When we're right, we're playing up to our standards," Kerr told The Athletic. "You can define that however you want. But the other night against Phoenix, that was the first time we'd played up to our standards in some time.
"That's what I'm looking for, a more consistent level of reaching our standards.”
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And in case you were curious:
“I don't really care about anybody else,” Kerr added. “It's not to say I don't watch the other great teams. I do. Houston, Cleveland, Boston, I watch the best teams every night on League Pass.
"But I honestly don't care how everyone else in the league is doing. I care about how we're doing. I don't know that our guys will play any differently based on the results of other teams.
"It should be about us and our standards. That should be enough.”
Drew Shiller is the co-host of Warriors Outsiders. Follow him on Twitter @DrewShiller
