Your semi-regular, though highly entertaining and unpredictable Golden State Warriors update for January 23, or thereabouts. This one has me spinning and thinking about beer, more or less. Its called: A Great 40 The Golden State Warriors have made it halfway through the season, so far, more or less (less, actually, but the difference is minimal) and it’s time to look at what they have done to this point. It’s been one hell of a 40. The Warriors are putting away teams like never before. And “never before” kicked some serious ass. In 40 games, the Warriors have failed to achieve a W just 6 times; the resultant winning percentage of 85 can really open your eyes and let you know beyond a doubt that this team has higher goals this year than ever before, at least in recent history. 34 wins already! It’s still January and the Warriors have 34 wins! There’re going to be quite some more. The Warriors have gotten to where they reside atop the NBA in the following manner, as I have broken the great 40 into 4 lively little 10-game stanzas, and make no mistake: this is poetry. Games 1-10 saw the Oaklanders go 8-2 to burst out of the gate and give some people (mostly opposing players and coaches) pause to consider. They knocked off the only other undefeated team at the time in Houston, then promptly lost 2 in a row. Still, 8-2 was good enough already to push them to the top of the Association’s standings. Already in the first 10-pack were road wins against the Lakers and TrailBlazers, and a somewhat grim reminder of who’s who with a home loss to the Spurs. Even so, new coach Steve Kerr seemed to have brought a new defensive presence to the high scoring team, and things were clicking, meshing, flowing. In games 11-20, the Blue and Gold were a perfect 10-0. 7 of these wins came on the road as the Warriors eventually would win 10 straight away from Oracle, and 16 in a row overall. Awesome. There were numerous blowouts in this second 10-pack, a 5-game road trip dripping in the sweet essence of perfection, and a squeaker at home against a bad Orlando team that would have been absolutely disastrous, had Steph not made the last second 3 to win it. And it was about time, as this long range jumper marked his first successful attempt at a last second shot to win a game, in 7 career tries. The third 10-pack of this glorious campaign saw the Warriors “slump” to a 7-3 mark, with back to back losses in Los (Loss?) Angeles to put a crimp in the Christmas festivities in Oaktown. The loss to the Lakers was truly horrid, a 10-point screwfest that wasn’t even that close, and sure as hell didn’t leave Kerr smiling. The streak ended earlier in this 10-pack, a 16-game winfest that finally came to a shuddering halt in that hellhole known as Memphis, Tennessee. “Long distance information...” The Warriors have had a tough time winning in that town, and the Grizzlies brought the Warriors back to earth before the Lakers and Clippers kicked dirt in their faces in Southern California. Still, after 30 games, my sweaty heroes had 25 wins, and were looking like the best team in many ways beyond just win/loss record. The fourth, and just completed 10-pack saw the Dubs rack up 9 more wins, with some historical blowouts thrown in, and 2 more wins over the simply overmatched Houston Rockets, with or without Dwight Howard. There were wins over the Thunder and Raptors, and a 4-game stretch where the high-flying team outscored its sorry ass opponents by 100 points! The Timberwolves, 13 points, the 76ers, 40 points; the Raptors, 21 points; the Thunder, 26 points. No wonder the Warriors have the best point differential, by far, when you look at a 4-game stretch like that one. And it goes on and on: Best field goal percentage at .487. Best 3-point FG% and .390. Best defensive FG% at .421. Most points per game at 110.7 and so on. This team is at the top of the NBA in so many categories, that it almost boggles the mind. 34-6; can you say dominant? And something that happened just this week, was the NBA debut of a player who may just make this team even better-James Michael McAdoo. This product of that basketball mecca, the University of North Carolina, made his debut against the Denver Nuggets in a game that ended up in a 43-point smackdown. The 122-79 win on January 19th, Martin Luther King, Jr Day, gave Warriors fans a quick (13 minutes) peek at the 6’9” great nephew of former NBA great Bob McAdoo, and this was a nice peek. Kid went 4 of 5 from the field, and sank 3 free throws for 11 points in a game that saw for the first time in history the Warriors have all 13 players log 10 or more minutes. McAdoo contributed 5 boards and a decisive block of a Randy Foye shot attempt, bringing the crowd to its feet. Unreal, and if this McAdoo is as good as I think he is (UNC, baby!) look out. The first 40 has been extremely nice for the Warriors. In some rare balance, they have played 20 and 20, home and away. They have won 17 straight at home for the first time ever, and the 19-1 mark at Oracle is as amazing as it is exhilarating. The 15-5 road mark, amazingly not the best in the NBA (Atlanta at 17-5 has that) has them truly humming when they travel, laying waste to the hapless and hopeless alike. It looks like this team has shed its identity as the cordial host, finally, and that of weary traveler as well. The second half of the season will hold many wonderful tales for this streaking team, and the young fellow McAdoo should begin to play some sort of role, one hopes!
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 16:20:46 +0000
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