At 29-5 on the season, the Golden State Warriors are on pace to win 70 games. With a win on Tuesday against the Utah Jazz, Golden State will have recorded the best 35-game start in the NBA since the Boston Celtics started 30-5 during their championship season of 2007-2008.
The domination has been real throughout the first two-plus months of the season. Golden State’s average margin of victory is 11 points per game. During its current six-game winning streak, the best team in the NBA is winning by an average of 22 points per game. Heck, the Warriors are averaging nearly 118 points per game during that six-game winning streak.
As it relates to the entirety of the season thus far, Golden State’s team stats are simply ridiculous.
Seventeen of Golden State’s 29 victories have come by 15-plus points and all but six of their wins have come by double digits. The team has already racked up a 16-game winning streak, hasn’t lost at home in two months and is in the midst of a six-game winning streak.
Stephen Curry leads the NBA in win shares per 48 minutes, Draymond Green ranks first in defensive wins share and four of the top-15 players in the NBA in terms of plus-minus reside in Oakland.
Overall, it’s been a dominating performance thus far this season.
Difficult Schedule
Prior to their six-game home-stand that ended on Friday night, Golden State had played 17 of its first 28 games on the road. It was 13-4 in those outings. Equally as impressive, the Warriors are currently 17-5 against Western Conference opponents, including 10-3 against playoff teams from a season ago. And while some will point to an undefeated 12-0 record against Eastern Conference teams, it’s important to note that seven of those wins also came against playoff teams from last season. This means that Golden State’s overall record against playoff opponents is currently 17-3. Not too shabby.
While still attempting to avoid looking too far ahead, Golden State’s upcoming schedule is somewhat favorable, especially when compared to what it has faced thus far this season. Twelve of the Warriors next 19 games are against opponents who are currently under .500. Their next game against the Oklahoma City Thunder this upcoming Friday will be the team’s final matchup against Kevin Durant and company. Meanwhile, Golden State takes on the Houston Rockets for the final two times over the course of the next 10 days. If Steve Kerr’s squad continues to play the basketball it’s obviously capable of over the next month and a half, Golden State could be looking at a ridiculous record heading into March.
Lady Luck
We focused on Golden State’s rather difficult schedule already. However, it’s important to note that the team has been somewhat lucky when it’s faced some of the top clubs in the Association. Its first meeting against Oklahoma City back in November took place with both Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook sidelined due to injury. And prior to laying the hammer down against a healthy Thunder squad last week, Golden State’s second matchup with Scott Brooks’ team featured Durant having to exit the game in the second quarter due to an injury. Most recently, Golden State took on a Cleveland Cavaliers team without the services of LeBron James. In addition to this, the Warriors have faced the Houston Rockets without Dwight Howard and the New Orleans Pelicans without Anthony Davis.
The Players
Stephen Curry is a lock for the All-Star team and likely the NBA MVP heading into the middle of January. He’s averaging 22.9 points, 5.0 rebounds, 8.0 assists and 2.2 steals per game. Talk about a ridiculous all-around performance thus far. Heck, he’s even shooting nearly 50 percent from the court, which is insane for a guard.
Klay Thompson just dropped a career-high 40 points against the Indiana Pacers last week and is averaging nearly 22 points per outing. Taking his all-around game to a new level, Thompson is also putting up 3.5 rebounds and 3. 1 assists per outing. Needless to say, he’s a likely All-Star.
However, the most pleasant surprise on the Warriors’ roster has been the transformation of Draymond Green from a valuable reserve to one of the top forwards in the entire NBA. The former second-round pick isn’t only the best defender (statistically) in the NBA, he’s putting up some crazy standard numbers. At 11.9 points, 8.4 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.6 blocks per game, Green has excelled at every turn this year. While he will likely be left off the All-Star team, an argument could easily be made that Green deserves to be the third Warrior selected.
Joining Green as a surprise player is former first-round pick Marreese Speights, who has finally found a home in Oakland. He’s averaging nearly 13 points per game and is shooting a ridiculous 53 percent from the field. If Green and Speights continue to play like this, the Warriors are undoubtedly the best team in the Association.
As it relates to the rest of the roster, both David Lee and Andrew Bogut are back from injuries and playing some pretty darn good basketball. Andre Iguodala has taken on the sixth-man role perfectly and is backing up an up-and-coming star in the form of Harrison Barnes. Further down in the Warriors rotation are the likes of Shaun Livington, a surprising Justin Holiday, Leandro Barbosa and Brandon Rush. This is by far the deepest Warriors team in since the early 1990’s.
Sustainability
The Warriors aren’t going to win 70 games this season. If that did happen, it would be the single-most impressive regular season in the modern history of the NBA, especially considering just how tough the Western Conference is. There will come a time at some point soon where the Warriors put up a span of 10 games where they’re not playing excellent basketball. But make no mistake about it, there isn’t a huge margin for error here. Despite boasting a 29-5 record, the Warriors are only 1.5 games ahead of Portland in the race for the best record in the Western Conference.
It’s also important to note just how difficult the playoffs are going to be. Right now, Golden State would face off with a Phoenix Suns team that is five games over .500 and has won seven of its last 10 outings. Behind Phoenix in the standings, Oklahoma City presents all sorts of potential matchup problems for some of the top teams in the conference should it earn one of the final playoff spots. Heck, even the San Antonio Spurs are just seventh in the Western Conference.
The most logical scenario moving forward is a Warriors team that balances out just a tad. By this I mean a team that ends up winning 60-65 games while earning one of the top two seeds in the conference. Whether that will be good enough for the Warriors to win their first title in 40 years is another story. It’s all going to depend on their reserve players continuing to play at a high level and their stars continuing to play like stars. Equally as important, Golden State needs a healthy Andrew Bogut in order to pound with some of the top teams when it matters the most late in the season and in the playoffs.
But for now, there’s little doubt that the Warriors are the odds-on favorites to win the NBA championship. It’s now all about sustaining that success.
Photo: Warriors.com