Warriors stunned by Bucks, gauntlet of a schedule lies ahead

It's about to get real for the Warriors after a 4-2 start.

Listen, I’m not saying the NBA schedule makers have a personal vendetta against the Warriors. But if you told me Adam Silver’s office has a dartboard with Steve Kerr’s face on it, I wouldn’t exactly be shocked.

Nine of the next eleven games on the road? In November? That’s not a schedule. That’s a hostage situation.

Let’s examine the evidence, shall we? The Warriors open this gauntlet in Indiana, then bounce to Phoenix, Sacramento, Denver, and back home for exactly one game against the Pacers before embarking on a six-game road trip that reads like someone’s fever dream of basketball hell. Oklahoma City, back-to-back in San Antonio, then New Orleans, Orlando, and Miami. By the time the Warriors touch down in South Beach on November 19th, they’ll have logged more flight miles than a regional airline pilot.

The Enemies List: Why Everyone’s Circling This Road Trip

Indiana Pacers

• Spent an entire dynasty watching from the Eastern Conference while we collected rings like Infinity Stones. They were one game away from a title, and Tyrese Haliburton’s body gave out.

Phoenix Suns

• Dillon Brooks hate us. Good luck with that.

Sacramento Kings

• Had to watch their Bay Area neighbors win four championships while they cycled through coaches like Netflix passwords

Denver Nuggets

• Finally got their ring and desperately want to prove 2023 wasn’t a fluke against an aging dynasty

Oklahoma City Thunder

• Kevin Durant. That’s the entire bullet point. That’s the whole grudge.

San Antonio Spurs

• Zaza Pachulia ended Kawhi’s Spurs career and their dynasty in one landing. They remember. Also, the rise of Wemby is IMMINENT!!!!! CODE RED! CODE RED!

New Orleans Pelicans

• Jordan Poole and Kevon Looney revenge game?

Orlando Magic

• Suffered through irrelevance while Golden State made Finals appearances look routine

Miami Heat

• JIMMY BUTLER ESCAPED PAT RILEY’S WRATH, BUT THE GODFATHER WILL SEEK HIS REVENGE.

The timing is almost artistically cruel. Right when Stephen Curry is orchestrating yet another masterclass in defying Father Time, right when the Warriors are showing flashes of legitimate contention, the schedule gods decide it’s time to test their mettle against geography itself. Forget the opponents for a second. The real adversary here is the sheer absurdity of playing nine games in 19 days across what might as well be different time zones, climate systems, and continental shelves.

Here’s what makes this stretch particularly diabolical: it’s perfectly designed to answer the exact question Bill Simmons posed on The Ringer. Are the Warriors legit contenders? Well, congratulations NBA, you’ve created the ultimate stress test. Want to know if Golden State has championship DNA? Make them play meaningful basketball in altitude in Denver, survive the Thunder’s youth movement in Oklahoma City, and then somehow remain functional for a back-to-back in San Antonio where the Spurs have been quietly developing into a major problem.

The schedule doesn’t just challenge the Warriors’ roster depth. It interrogates their entire identity. Can Draymond Green maintain his defensive intensity when his body is being used as a frequent flyer carry-on? Can Jimmy Butler stay locked in when he’s sleeping in a different hotel every 48 hours? Can Kerr’s rotation withstand the relentless grind of constant travel, early tip times, and the inevitable parade of injuries that accompanies this kind of compressed chaos?

And let’s address the psychological warfare at play here. The Warriors know everyone is watching. They know this stretch will define how the national media talks about them for the next three months. Win seven or eight of these games, and suddenly Golden State is back in the championship conversation. Lose six or seven, and the narrative shifts to “fraudulent contender” faster than you can say “play-in tournament.”

So yes, I’m choosing to believe in the conspiracy. I’m choosing to believe that somewhere in the bowels of NBA headquarters, someone looked at this Warriors roster, saw them starting to gel, and decided they needed to be humbled by the cruel mistress of airline food and time zone confusion.

Dub Nation, buckle up. The next three weeks will either validate everything we believe about this team’s resilience, or expose their weaknesses in a way that will be tough to swallow. Until the new year hits that is! Championships aren’t won in November after all!

Either way, it’s going to be one hell of a ride.