Sure it's early still, and there were some good signs in the Warriors last game against OKC but also some very troubling ones, and so in the midst of a six game losing streak, much of it at home, one thing seems obvious: nobody is afraid of the Warriors anymore. Down by nearly 20 points, the young Thunder team came thundering back. They weren't intimidated. The Warriors no longer inspire fear in their opponents.
For as much as the Warriors want to forget last season, the rest of the league hasn't. They saw that the Warriors were vulnerable, that they didn't routinely get big leads and hold them, or rally late to inevitably win. And they are seeing this again. Do they even respect the Warriors anymore? They respect Steph Curry and what he can do. But the Warriors as a team? I wonder. If the Warriors are still a championship team, they are making it tougher on themselves to prove it. They're going to have to earn that respect and intimidation factor all over again.
But there's better news in the Bay: the Niners won convincingly again. The defense pressured and was opportunistic, and Brock Purdy had a perfect quarterback rating (whatever that means), the first in Niner history. I guess it means he was pretty good, and there was lots of MVP buzz in the sportshysteria media.
I contrast this with the situation in Pittsburgh, where my other team lives. They, too, have a young quarterback who showed a lot of promise before being injured late last season. But the Steelers offense is lifeless (even considering Cleveland's vaunted defense), and Steelers fans are screaming for his head, and particularly for the offensive coordinator, the most hated man in the burgh. Heavy sigh.
Update: Matt Canada was fired as the Steelers' offensive coordinator, the first coaching change during a season that the Steelers have made since 1941. At almost the same time, a poll of NFL players conducted by the NYTimes asked which coach other than their own they would like to play for. The top choice by far was Steelers coach Mike Tomlin.
