GP2 warns teams not to fear the Warriors this year originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Gary Payton II has a very simple message for those teams that aren’t giving up. Warriors all due respect ahead of the 2023 NBA playoffs.
Talking to 95.7 The Game’s”Steiny and GuruOn Thursday, Payton succinctly shared his thoughts on Golden State’s detractors.
“I’ll see you in the playoffs. We can figure it out in the playoffs,” Payton said when asked what he would say to those who don’t think Golden State is to be feared come playoff time. “That’s all I can say: We’ll figure it out in the playoffs.
“If you’re not there, I don’t know what to tell you.”
At 40-37, the Warriors currently sit in the sixth seed in the Western Conference, one game behind the Los Angeles Clippers for the fifth seed and one game ahead of the seventh seed new orleans pelicans.
Through the 2022-23 NBA season, the Warriors hovered around .500, a record typically unbecoming for a defending champion. As a result, it makes sense that some teams feel the Warriors are beatable this season.
Golden State hopes that with Payton’s return to the Bay Areathe Warriors could recapture some of the magic they had last season en route to their fourth championship in eight years.
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with another defense presence in the patrol of Payton on the perimeter and terrorizing opposing guards and forwards alike, the Warriors slowly appear to be a squad no team wants to face in the playoffs.
And if that were the case, Payton will certainly have saved the receipts when the time comes.