“Warriors’ dreams turn to nightmares”, “Spurs look like real super team in opening rout of Warriors”, and “Warriors’ loss in opener belies high expectations” are all headlines used on the morning of Oct. 26 to describe the “super team” Golden State Warriors’ season opening blowout loss the San Antonio Spurs.

Following the offseason signing of former NBA MVP Kevin Durant from the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Warriors expectations for this season are sky high. However, fans might want to hold off a little on those lofty expectations for now.

The Warriors’ first game of the season Oct. 25 did not go as anyone anticipated, especially those hopeful that the team can bounce back from last year’s devastating NBA Finals loss. The first game against the Spurs (with new star forward Pau Gasol), was definitely a wake-up call – in front of a sold-out Oracle Arena – for the team and their supporters.

The team as a whole looked out of sync the entire night, with the two former MVP’s Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant being the only players to really put in significant contributions. Other than Curry, Durant, and forward Draymond Green, no Warriors player scored more than 11 points. That’s definitely concerning for die-hard fans and serves as a lesson that the Warriors will still need to work as a team to reach their successes of last year, they definitely will not do as good by just relying on the stars.

It should not be a complete shock though, as it would always be hard to replicate the success the best regular season team in NBA history, at 73-9, with only two-thirds of last year’s stellar team returning. The team’s bench unit is almost completely rebuilt, and it will take a bit of time before the star-studded starting lineup will fully mesh together the way general manager Bob Myers and coach Steve Kerr had dreamed of after completing their offseason plan.

Saying the Warriors will struggle this year after only the first game definitely seems to be an overreaction – especially since the team has found redemption with three straight subsequent wins over the Pelicans, Suns, and Trail Blazers, but there are many parts of that need to come together in order for them to meet their full potential, which is the potential to be the scariest team in NBA history.