At the start of the season, I predicted the Golden State Warriors, fresh off an NBA championship, would have an incredible season and no one would be able to stop them. However, I didn’t expect them to be this good and neither did anyone else. After Sunday’s win against the Spurs, the Warriors matched the 72-win season of the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls, and they have the chance to break the record during their final game against the Grizzlies on Wednesday. That’s just one of the records they’ve broken or tied. The team has also set records for consecutive regular season wins, most road wins in a season and consecutive regular season home wins.
Despite the team’s overall success, talent and depth, this season has undoubtedly been led by Stephen Curry. With talks of him being voted unanimous MVP and possibly even Most Improved Player, Curry’s meteoric season propelled him into sole possession of the title of best player in the league. He is currently averaging 34.2 points, 6.7 assists and 5.5 rebounds per game, while still shooting 45 percent from beyond the arc. Curry broke the record for consecutive games with a three pointer and is still going at 151 games, while also demolishing his single season record for total three pointers; he currently has 392 threes, as opposed to his previous record of 286. He has improved to a point where it’s almost surprising when he misses a shot.
Curry’s achievements this season should not draw attention away from what everyone else on the Warriors has done. Draymond Green gained yet another Warriors record with 13 triple doubles this season. Stephen Curry may be the best player on the Warriors, but Green is the heart and soul of the team, as well as its motor and one half of the pick and roll that has terrorized the league for almost three years. Klay Thompson surpassed Ray Allen’s single season total of 269 three pointers, making him the player with the most threes in a season who is not named Steph Curry. He’s played the part of backcourt mate perfectly, feeding off the looks he gets when everyone is focused on Curry. Each person has played their roles to perfection on this team, from Andrew Bogut to Andre Iguodala to Leandro Barbosa. Even youngsters like James Michael McAdoo and Ian Clark have pitched in with valuable minutes. Everyone on this team has stepped up when needed and it’s led to incredible success.
You’ve probably heard every single take on the Warriors’ season about 100 times, and with good reason. It really all boils down to one single conclusion: no one can stop them. The Spurs loom in the distance, Lebron checks his Twitter account in anticipation for a possible Finals rematch and Russell Westbrook is demolishing punching bags with pictures of Steph on them. Losses have come few and far between; they will finish the season without a single set of back-to-back defeats, and no one has really found a strategy to consistently beat them. If it’s not Steph, it’s Draymond, Harrison Barnes or even Steve Kerr heating up, so it would ring a little hollow without a championship in the postseason. We shouldn’t look past how historically ridiculous this season and this team has been.
