Whenever they lost to vastly inferior teams, as they did five times in the first 12 weeks, the Warriors generally attributed it to an ennui borne of three seasons of pushing to reach heights never achieved in the NBA.
They won two championships and setting a single-season record for victories.
When they lost three of four in the two weeks before the All-Star break, it was ascribed to the dog days that always precede the week when each team hits its resets button.
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The Warriors came out of the break and won seven in a row, their longest streak since early December.
So here they are now, a month later, with only two games remaining in the regular season, wheezing through their emptiest stretch since 2013, essentially asking their fans to remain calm and keep the faith.
They most certainly will not have their self-belief shaken.
“I’m comfortable with our team,” Draymond Green said Sunday night, after a 126-120 loss to New Orleans. “I know we’re a damn good team.”
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That’s the level of confidence that comes with a prolonged stretch of unprecedented success. The Warriors realize they won’t be judged by the regular season, and that may be why coach Steve Kerr didn’t seem particularly alarmed.
“We just have to keep going,” he said Sunday night. “We are going to have new life when the playoffs start.
“I’m well aware of the long, difficult season it has been. So many things have been thrown at us here the last month especially all the injuries, which have really shaken up our rotation. That’s made it difficult on everybody. They are fighting, that’s the main thing. We are going to be alright.”
Granted, the rosy tones of both Green and Kerr sounded a bit off-key in the minutes after bewildering defense and a stunning succession of fourth-quarter gaffes -- and we’ve seen those before -- saddled the Warriors with defeat in their regular-season finale at Oracle Arena.
The Warriors started slowly, falling behind 12-4 in the first two minutes and 43-32 early in the second quarter, with the Pelicans shooting 59.6 percent in the first half.
The defending champs recovered in the third quarter, though, dialing up the defense and riding a 17-2 run to take their first lead, 89-82, with 1:54 left in the quarter.
Then came the fourth, when the Warriors were outscored 38-28. The Pelicans, on the second night of a back-to-back set, shot 63.6 percent over the final 12 minutes, their accuracy aided by the 15 points they rang up off eight Warriors turnovers.
While their effort was unquestioned -- and that matters after the trash they spread two nights earlier in Indianapolis -- the Warriors rarely looked like a team ready for the playoffs, much less roll through them.
At one point early in the third quarter, after New Orleans opened the half by making three of its first four shots, Kerr signaled for a timeout. Green was particularly agitated, gesturing to his teammates.
Having suspected it was about the quality of the defense, I asked Green. He conceded, without detail, that he was using his unique and demonstrative way to tell his teammates “that we need to play better defense.”
This was shortly after that when Warriors put things together will enough to take their first lead.
Which was followed minutes later by the collapse that cost them the game, wasting a 41-point night by Kevin Durant.
“Our season begins next week and we know that,” Kerr said. “I’m not disappointed with the effort. I always want to win, they want to win, but I liked the fight, especially in the second half. I think we can take something out of this game.”
There is not much, however, they can take from the past 15 games, during which they’ve gone 6-9. Some of it can be blamed on the short roster, some of it on the intermittent absences of All-Stars Klay Thompson, Durant and Green, as well as the almost total absence of team leader Stephen Curry.
The Warriors, coaches and players, are maintaining their grip. The numbers are unkind, but the spirit has been resolute. Or so they say. The proof can’t begin to reveal its true self until next weekend.