Kerr still believes in Warriors despite 10-game road skid

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Every time the Warriors show any glimmer of hope that they are about to turn their 2022-23 NBA season around, they go on the road and lose all momentum.

After beating the Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix Suns at Chase Center, the Warriors have lost road games to the Los Angeles Clippers and Atlanta Hawks, with the latest defeat coming in frustrating fashion as they got within striking distance late in the contest at State Farm Arena, only to come up short.

The Warriors' 127-119 loss to the Hawks brings their current road skid to 10 games and drops their overall road record this season to 7-28.

Despite everything that has happened this season, Warriors coach Steve Kerr liked what he saw from his team Friday night and is confident they will make the run everyone has been anticipating the defending NBA champs will make.

"14-4 out of the gate, we looked great and then we started turning it over and their transition was hurting us, so that was the problem the last eight minutes of the first quarter or so," Kerr told reporters after the game. "And then we settled down after that, did a better job of handling their transition, taking care of the ball. Proud of our guys' effort. We had chances. We had several shots in the last couple minutes to take the lead and just couldn't get anything to go.

"But love the effort, love the energy. These guys are fight. I believe in them. I believe something good is going to happen with this group. We've just got to keep fight and keep moving forward."

At 36-35 this season, the Warriors have 11 games regular-season games remaining, with five at home and six on the road. At the moment, Golden State possesses a top-six seed in the Western Conference, but their road woes are putting that positioning in serious jeopardy. The Dallas Mavericks, Minnesota Timberwolves, Los Angeles Lakers and Oklahoma City Thunder all are in hot pursuit.

Kevon Looney, who finished with 18 points and 16 rebounds in the loss to the Hawks, agreed with Kerr that the Warriors did a lot of good things Friday but made it clear that they need to see results.

"As long as we're playing the right way, that's good, but we still want to win," Looney told reporters. "It don't feel no better even though we did play hard and we were right there. Losing always still sucks. But we're building better habits. We're in these games on the road, we're playing decent playoff teams, so it's not easy to win but we still got to figure it out, we've got to be able to push through, we've got to be able to win on the road to complete the goal that we want."

Even as they continue to lose road games and fumble away any consistency, the Warriors have remained confident that if they get into the playoffs, they will be a tough team to beat in a best-of-seven game series.

Veteran guard Donte DiVincenzo is the latest Warrior to exude that belief.

"I'm very confident," DiVincenzo told reporters. "Like I said, it's very bad taste right now but you look at the guys who are missing for us right now, they are key guys and you know once everybody comes back, guys are going to settle back into their roles.

"My confidence level ... it's going to be hard to beat us four times, especially when you have leaders like Klay [Thompson], Steph [Curry], Draymond [Green] and Coach Kerr that feel the same way, it makes everybody else under them feel confident in that. The biggest thing is we can't hold our head and think too much about this losing streak on the road but we really do have to turn it around on the road."

RELATED: Kerr believes Warriors' core has a lot left in the tank

The games against the Clippers and Hawks felt like must-win games and the Warriors lost both. Now they have a quick turnaround and face the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday night at FedExForum. Another loss put Golden State back at the .500 mark, a place they don't want to be.

If there ever were a time for the Warriors to summon their championship DNA, it would be Saturday in the Grindhouse.

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