Warriors beat included Hawaii and Harvard, beats and Batman, Curry and coffee
The game had ended in Philadelphia but the fight hadn't yet begun in New York, perfect timing for the boxing fans who played this season for the Golden State Warriors. Gary Payton II purchased the pay-per-view — Gervonta 'Tank' Davis versus Lamont Roach Jr. for the WBA lightweight championship — and a team staffer linked it through a laptop to a television.
The emptying visitors locker room in Wells Fargo Center was a spacious living room that Saturday night.
A boxing scribe during my tenure in Las Vegas and forever a fan of the sweet, sweet science, I sat in front of an empty locker to watch beside Pat Spencer, Kevon Looney, Moses Moody, Trayce Jackson-Davis and Brandin Podziemski as Payton bolted for the bus. Draymond Green watched it on his phone while getting treatment in another nearby room.
And what a fight — and season — it was.
Covering the Warriors as the Chronicle's beat writer, an honor and privilege the last 17 months, means writing about games, practices, shootarounds, and documenting the life and times of their players and staff. With organic downtime along the way, it means traversing the NBA's other 27 markets by airplane, rideshare, train, subway and foot.
Since training camp opened on the northernmost shores of Hawaii's Oahu in early October, I've earmarked anecdotes and memories through which I'll remember their 2024-25 season. The happenings informing Golden State's 48-34 record and trip to the Western Conference semifinals are archived on our website already.
Training camp was at BYU-Hawaii in the scenic oceanside town of Laie, but I stayed in Honolulu's Waikiki, rented a car and made the 45-minute drive to (and from) practices. Along the way under the bluest skies beside the clearest water (I think) I'd ever seen, I'd wonder if I was in or on a postcard. Then, I'd get to the quaint, charming campus, wait for media availability and watch Buddy Hield shoot for an hour after seemingly every practice.
Shootarounds and practices on the road usually conclude to the tune of music of artists local to the city whenever apropos, as ensured by assistant coach Khalid Robinson. Think Kendrick Lamar in Los Angeles, Meek Mill in Philadelphia, Drake in Toronto, Scarface in Houston, Young Dolph in Memphis, etc. Not sure there's a song that was played unknown to Green.
Road practices brought me to the campuses of Georgetown, Harvard and UCLA — among other colleges and universities. As sacred and as historic as they were — a bronze statue of John Thompson sits inside Georgetown's basketball complex, named for him; Looney, a former Bruin, is memorialized inside UCLA's practice gym — I'm happy I matriculated Minnesota. Makes for playful banter with Golden State's other Big Ten alums: Green, Jackson-Davis, Spencer and Looney … though I still can't believe the Bruins belong to the Big Ten.
A sandwich shop in downtown Denver — where the Warriors and Nuggets played Dec. 3 — featured a painting of Batman atop a toilet with a glass of wine, his pants half down revealing Superman boxers as his dog sat beneath the bathroom window by his feet. Out the window was the 'Bat-Signal' emblazoning the nighttime Gotham City sky. Apparently amused, I photographed it — perhaps foreshadowing (internally, anyway) Golden State's Batman motif.
Speaking of which, can't forget about Jimmy Butler 's team debut in Chicago, where his personal speaker played Jay-Z's 'Song Cry' among other soothing songs in a victorious visitor's locker room. Butler's impact — on the court for the Warriors and with their collective confidence — was obvious from the onset of his arrival. After a victory over Houston, Golden State's final game before the All-Star Break, he told reporters the Warriors would go streaking. Then they won 11 of their next 12 games.
Included in that batch of wins was a lengthy trip along the East Coast that featured stops in Orlando, Philadelphia, Charlotte and New York for games with the Knicks and Brooklyn Nets. Every arena in which the Warriors played — including Madison Square Garden for stretches — might as well have been Chase Center East. Stephen Curry, the People's Superstar, started and finished it to chants of 'MVP.'
Swung by Butler's 'Bigface' coffee storefront during Golden State's five-day stay in Miami. Nestled in the city's design district, it's chic but cozy and the coffee is tasty. The Warriors practiced at Barry University the March afternoon before they played the Miami Heat. No hard feelings — about the breakup with Heat — for the dozens of students who waited outside for a glimpse of Butler.
Now we wait another four-plus months for a glimpse of the 2025-26 iteration of the Warriors.
Thanks for reading about 2024-25.
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