Golden State Won’t Reach 73 Wins
It was not so long ago that the Milwaukee Bucks were celebrating being the first team to defeat the Golden State Warriors this season. At the time, Golden State had won 24 straight and talk about having the best record in league history was firmly in their sights. Heading into late January, the Warriors are 39-4 and are still within reach of the 72-10 milestone, but the odds of them overtaking Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls’ 1995-96 season is slowly slipping out of their grasp.
Stephen Curry has been the lifeblood of this Warriors team for a few seasons now and when he is going there is nobody that can stop in. When Curry is on the court you don’t have to defend 23 feet out to the three-point line, you have to defend up to 30 feet out. Curry has no problem throwing bombs from 30 plus feet and he hits those at a higher percentage than the rest of the league hits 23 foot three’s. The issue with relying on Curry is that he is 6’3” and 185 pounds when soaking wet. Every team is gunning for the Warriors, and specifically Curry. Curry’s body simply cannot take the beating that it is going to receive over the course of an 82 game season. This has already been demonstrated by him injuring his shin and sitting out a few games in early January (one of which the Warriors lost). Last season Golden State won the NBA Finals in large part because they were able to remain ridiculously healthy over the course of the entire season.
The reason that they can beat the Bulls and their record is much more exciting than the idea that they can’t, though. Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and Harrison Barnes remain the most exciting core of players in the NBA and there is no way to defend their small-ball lineup. If they can remain healthy, their talent level transcends even the LeBron James led Cavaliers. Their style matches up well with the Cavaliers and their speed leaves the Cavs in the dust, as shown by the 132-98 embarrassment on Monday, in Cleveland, when Curry didn’t even need to get off of the bench in the fourth quarter.
The biggest threat to the Warriors has always been the San Antonio Spurs. The Warriors were able to avoid the Spurs in last season’s playoff run, but they are unlikely to be so fortunate this season. The Spurs feature rising star Kawhi Leonard, who is the type of on-ball defender that Curry should fear. The two Western powerhouses haven’t met yet this season, but are scheduled to play Monday. Though the Spurs will likely play a watered down version of their schemes to better save their theatrics for the playoffs, the matchup will be an exciting one. They will meet four times before the regular season ends, and each one should be more exciting than the one preceding it.
Better than Jordan’s Bulls? We will never know. Let’s first see if they can beat the Spurs and stay on track to be the first team ever to not have double-digit losses in a season.
