Entering the season, optimism in the Bay Area was sky high regarding the Golden State Warriors’ chances to re-establish themselves as one of the league’s dominant teams and as a legitimate NBA Championship contender. A 10-9 start to the season through 19 games has done little to encourage anyone that it will happen, but Monday’s win over the Utah Jazz helps.

Before Monday’s 134-117 result over the lottery-bound Utah Jazz, the Warriors lost three straight games to fall to the .500 mark for the first time this season. A big part of why the Warriors were able to pull away on Monday was the performance of shooting guard Buddy Hield, who notched his first 20-point outing of the season by making 8-of-13 attempts overall.

After the game, Hield had several deep and introspective responses about how he’s persevered throughout this trying start to the season. 

“It's great to see some going down, but it’s kind of been rough this season,” Hield said. “Just up and down and trying to figure it out. I know my God is a good God and, you know, all I’ve got to do is just keep on staying in the fight and wait until that big breakthrough happens. Hopefully, I can build off this one and then build off the next one and take one at a time.”

While the slow start has certainly been discouraging, Hield made sure to emphasize that his struggles on the basketball court aren’t so unlike the struggles that any non-NBA player faces in their day-to-day life.

“Just trying to figure it out, always,” Hield said. “It's life. We all go through our ups and downs and nothing is easy. I'm sure you guys go through your daily struggles. My struggle is just trying to figure it out on the basketball court, and that's the fun part about it.

“You look back at it like it was nothing, you know,  and there’s always light at the end of the tunnel. So I stay in the fight, keep fighting, keep doing what got me here, and I know everything will fall into the right place.”

As a 10-year NBA veteran, Hield knows more than most players in the league just how demanding the 82-game schedule is and why you shouldn’t be too bent out of shape about some of these early-season struggles.

“I always tell young guys, too, you know, it's a marathon,” Hield said. “82 games in a season is a marathon. The first 20 can go exactly how you want it to go, and the first 20 can go exactly as bad as you want it to go. Like, not what you want to happen, so you’ve just got to just keep being positive and know that it's going to turn around at some point.”