OAKLAND – The Warriors on Tuesday nudged their fans toward anxiety, which begets squirming in the seats and, eventually, impassioned debate.
Have the defending champs, coming off back-to-back preseason losses, both with extended spells of languid defense, lost their hunger?
Or are they uninspired, sandbagging and lollygagging because they know it is, after all, only preseason basketball?
This much is certain: Coach Steve Kerr, recuperating after two back surgeries, could not have liked what he saw on TV Tuesday night, when the Warriors turned a fast start into a slow, ugly finish in a 114-103 loss to the Denver Nuggets at Oracle Arena.