Sam Amick

USA TODAY Sports

OAKLAND — As is always the case when the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers prepare to face off, that tired, overused, overly simplistic word that doesn't truly define what they have going here was dragged out yet again.

Rivalry.

"It's not a rivalry," Warriors small forward Andre Iguodala said with a grin as he clocked out Tuesday at the team's practice facility. "Neither one of these teams has done anything."

Is Clippers-Warriors is a rivalry? Probably not in the truest sense, especially when their latest shared memory was a first-round playoff series that went the Clippers' way in a thrilling seven games. Celtics-Lakers, this is not. The Clippers have never won a title, and the Warriors haven't won one since Rick Barry was leading the way back in 1975.

But it simply doesn't matter what you call it when this much is indisputable: Wednesday's game at Golden State is another example of extremely compelling basketball in early November, and that's the kind of rarity that simply shouldn't be ignored. Add in the reality that these two teams with so much history of bad blood always seem to have serious tension when they take the floor, and it becomes unequivocally clear that — when it comes to nighttime viewing — scripted shows will have to wait.

First-year Warriors coach Steve Kerr is the new character in this ongoing drama series, and he spent much of Tuesday afternoon bemoaning the fact that his 3-0 team spent its latest practice session easing its way into this latest challenge against the 3-1 Clippers. Practice was sluggish, Kerr said, with a full hour going by before the group was fully engaged and focused.

That would irritate Kerr on any normal day, even if he understands that it's not a new phenomenon when practice is held after an off-day. But with these Clippers in town, and with the tables having turned a bit here when it comes to which team is receiving the vast majority of the media hype, Kerr wasn't thrilled.

"We'll see if our guys are ready or not," Kerr said before explaining what he didn't like. "Lack of focus, just not on edge, not executing, not going full speed. It happens, I'm aware. And it … usually happens after a day off. But if we want to be as good as we think we can be, it can't happen very often, that's for sure.

"We've probably had five off days (since the start of the preseason), and we've had four bad practices (the day after). We brought it one day. It's been that way on every team I've ever been on. You come in after that off day, and you're just not quite on edge, but the good teams figure it out and they quickly turn it around."

As Kerr finds his way with this Warriors group, there's clearly an urgency here when it comes to pushing them to be great. The expectations of which he speaks are nothing short of the ultimate goal, with many seeing Golden State's roster as championship-worthy so long as they find a way to avoid the kind of complacency that reared its ugly head in the latest practice session.

Kerr didn't have to spend years as a TNT analyst to know how much parity there is in the West. So while everyone else sees all the subplots when it comes to the Clippers – their disputes over pregame chapel under former coach Mark Jackson; Blake Griffin's accusation that the Warriors played "cowardly basketball"; their post-Game 7 standoff in which players and coaches alike shared verbal barbs – Kerr sees a fellow member of the Western Conference elite that must be defeated to set a strong early tone to their season.

"No," Kerr responded quickly when asked if there's more importance placed on this game. "What's important is beating a fellow Western Conference playoff team, and controlling homecourt. That's the importance of this game. We want to be a great home team this year.

"We have the best fans in the league, an incredible atmosphere, and that has to translate because somebody could win 48 games in the West this year and not get in (to the playoffs). So you've got to control your homecourt, and you've got to beat the teams that you're going to be fighting against."

Yet while Kerr was talking so glowingly about his longtime pal, Clippers coach Doc Rivers, and while rival stars Chris Paul and Stephen Curry both took part in a shared charity event in San Francisco the afternoon before the game, the mutual admiration society feel to it all doesn't go much further than that. Warriors center Andrew Bogut, the 29-year-old Australian who missed the entire playoff series against the Clippers with a rib injury, is looking forward to re-entering this not-so-friendly fray.

"It's not that I enjoy it," Bogut said when asked if he relishes the no-love-lost dynamic of this matchup. "If (physicality) happens, it happens. Some games, it happens and I'm happy to battle and wrestle and scrap and claw and fight and do whatever you have to do. And some games it doesn't happen.

"I'm one of the few guys that doesn't have a boatload of friends that I party with in the summer in Vegas that are in the NBA. I kind of go and do my own thing, so I'm not one of those guys that's schmoozing guys before the game or at halftime. So I don't really care (what) they think of me once the game is over."

Said Warriors small forward Draymond Green: "It's going to be a dog fight. Whoever makes the necessary plays. Whoever is more physical. Try to win the battle of the boards. Try to win the turnover battle. Those are the things that are going to win this game.

"(But) one (playoff) series isn't going to change the way we feel about playing against them and the way they feel about playing against us. Those games have been intense since I came into the league (in 2012), and they're going to continue to be intense, so that one series isn't necessarily (where) we're saying, 'Yeah, we've got Bogut back, so let's see what they can do with us now.' Because we're always confident in ourselves, especially playing against them."

Call this matchup whatever you want. Just make sure you're tuned in.