More often than not this season, the Warriors have looked nothing like the team that went to five straight NBA Finals and won three NBA titles from 2015 through 2019.
But occasionally, Steph Curry and Co. give us glimpses of the team that captivated -- some say ruined --the NBA for five seasons.
They certainly don't have the same firepower they did when Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant flanked Curry, but on Thursday night, the Warriors, led by a career-high 40 points from Kelly Oubre Jr., looked like an unstoppable offensive juggernaut in a 147-116 win over the Dallas Mavericks. Of course, that could all change Saturday in a rematch with Dallas at American Airlines Center.
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The Warriors are the definition of a work in progress, trying to build a brand-new house on the championship foundation laid by Curry, Thompson, Draymond Green and coach Steve Kerr.
But Curry is confident that all the work will pay off and that the finished product three months from now will look a lot better than what we are seeing at the moment.
"Everything's new, but we have our championship DNA with me, Draymond and Klay," Curry said on TNT's postgame show after Thursday's win. "We know what it takes to get back to that level, and we're talking about it. We're keeping that mentality, and that's what we're trying to build towards. But in the short term, it's kind of every day is a new challenge. There's something refreshing about that, but I think we're always a work in progress.
"Hopefully the finished product come April [and] May will be a lot better than it's been early in this year, but we're building towards that. I like where we're at. We've dropped some games and had some crazy blowout losses, but I think we're headed in the right direction."
Golden State Warriors
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The Warriors have yet to string together three straight wins and sit at 12-10 through 22 games. But the offense is starting to look more fluid and the defense, anchored by Green, is beginning to clamp down on teams.
There will be more blowout losses along the way. It's only natural for a team missing so many players and trying to integrate a bunch of new players into Kerr's scheme.
But if Curry and the Warriors can build off Thursday's performance in which they had 37 assists on 51 field goals and made 22 3-pointers, then they might be exactly where Curry and Kerr want them to be when the NBA playoffs roll around.