Mahlalela: Win over Kings has Dubs headed in ‘right direction’ originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
The Warriors haven’t started the 2022-23 NBA season as they might have hoped at 4-7, but after their come-from-behind 116-113 win over the Sacramento Kings, it might have been the jolt the team needed.
At the half, the Warriors were down double digits to Sacramento, and it appeared Golden State was heading toward another loss until Steph Curry went off for 47 points, allowing Golden State to escape with a win.
Nonetheless, Warriors assistant coach Jama Mahlalela believes that the win over the Kings was the game that will allow the team to steer their season in the right direction.
“It almost felt like a playoff game, it really did,” Mahlalela said Tuesday on 95.7 The Game’s “Willard and Dibs.”
“We finished the game or sort of a bit of an exhale, but I think that was the collective effort we needed to sort of just get the ship going in the right direction again.”
After going 0-5 on their recent road trip, Mahlalela stated that the Warriors were searching for solutions to get themselves out of their funk and it appears that he saw signs of a team that found its answers.
“I think the part of the NBA that’s special is that when things aren’t quite working, and it’s clear to say that they weren’t, especially in this last road trip that we’re on,” Mahlalela added. “You have to identify what the problems are and then you have to figure out what the solutions those problems are and last night was an attempt to find some of those solutions.
“One was sort of that, sort of that purposeful focused energy that needs to be there consistently for 48 minutes to win NBA games … I think the other pieces we’ve identified some things that we need to do and a lot of those on the basketball court in terms of X’s and O’s are things we tried to implement yesterday. I think that is where the ferocity and sort of the intensity came from last night.”
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The Warriors hope this trend continues and isn’t a one-off performance when they face off against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday at Chase Center.
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