The defending champion Warriors opened the season in a post-champagne hangover, losing three of their first seven, but followed that with a seven-game win streak, with their fans deep-breathing their way into a state of relaxation.
The Super Team had resurfaced, officially ready to start skipping and whistling its way to, oh, about 70 wins and a second consecutive championship.
Since then, the Warriors are 5-3, putting their record at 16-6, good by any reasonable measure but far below the standard they have set under Steve Kerr.
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The “Super Team” standard, which is why the Vegas set the over/under for the number of Warriors wins at 66.5. The under is looking like gold.
Failing to get to 67 doesn’t mean failing. It means falling in line with league history.
Let’s be real. The Super Team standard set fire to rational expectation. The Warriors over the last three seasons have done what no NBA team had ever done, winning 207 games -- a rate of 84.1 percent.
And then they arrived at training camp with most everyone, from Kerr down through the roster, calmly expressing faith that they should be better than they were last season, largely because it’s Kevin Durant’s second year in the system.
Golden State Warriors
It was easy to buy in, too, because it made sense. They might be better, but the improvement won’t be visible in November.
Meanwhile, fans are bearing with sluggish performances and lazy defense and lack of attention to details, the kinds of elements that have made the last two games exercises in exasperation.
In blowing a double-digit lead at home against the rebuilding Kings on Monday, the Warriors allowed Sacramento to shoot 53.2 percent. The Kings had not shot that well all season, and the Warriors hadn’t allowed any team to slaughter their defense to such a degree.
Then, on Wednesday in Los Angeles, the Warriors needed an overtime period to get past the rebuilding Lakers, who were without leading scorer Kyle Kuzma.
“I didn’t think we competed tonight,” Kerr said. “I don’t think we’ve really competed that well all year. It’s just the way it is right now.”
It is this “slump” that has many of their fans searching for answers and some of the more anxious followers frantically wondering if they should push a panic button or pull a fire alarm or just surrender to the agony of rooting for a team on pace to go . . . 59-23.
That’s 59-23, a bar the Lakers failed to clear 17 times in Kobe Bryant’s incredible 20-year career.
The Spurs have been the NBA’s gold standard for a full 20 years, winning five championships and ensuring coach Gregg Popovich a smooth glide into the Hall of Fame. In 13 of those 20 seasons, the Spurs have failed to reach 59 wins.
Only once in that time has San Antonio won 80 percent of its regular season games.
The Warriors won 81.7 percent of their games last season, 89 percent in 2015-16 and 81.7 percent in 2014-15.
The best regular-season the Spurs have posted under Popovich is 67 wins, equaling the fewest the Warriors have won in three full seasons under Kerr.
The Spurs own zero single-season records, and they’ve long ago accepted they will not. So they don’t chase. They ration their commitment in the regular season, and then unleash all of it in the playoffs.
The Warriors are learning to do that, and it’s at times a painful process.
“I feel like we’re into it,” Stephen Curry said. “We’re focused, we’re competing. We have pride about how we play. It’s just our expectations are so high and when you don’t reach that every single night, it’s going to be scrutinized, even from our coach. He obviously expects the best from us every night, and we need to try to live up to it.
“It’s a long season and there’s going to be ups and downs,” he added. “But I think he’s more focused on the things we can control . . . it comes with the territory of being who we are and chasing what we’re chasing. But we just have to stay together, keep our chemistry in the locker room, find things that can motivate you throughout the season individually and collectively and fight through it.”
Understand Michael Jordan’s Bulls, in their second three-peat, won 72 games the first season, 69 the next and 62 in the third and final season.
The Miami Heat, in four years with LeBron James won 71.8 percent of their games.
In the best four-year stretch of the Showtime Lakers, they averaged 62.7 wins.
So there will be very little skipping or whistling for the Warriors. There will be a lot of sweat and plenty of uneasy moments. The next four months are going to be a grind because that’s the way of the NBA.
History has issued its warning. To listen to it is to relax, at least a little bit.