How Loud Actions Speak

How Loud Actions Speak:

A Biography of the Warriors Historic Start

By Joe Smeltzer and Alex Gordon

Joe: 24-1. That was the inscription on thousands of T-Shirts inside the BMO Harris Bradley Center on Saturday Night. Those shirts were worn by fans of the currently underachieving Milwaukee Bucks, who came into the night with a record of 9 wins and 15 losses. The Milwaukee faithful knew what they were up against. Their boys were facing the NBA’s version of Queen Elizabeth, Alexander the Great, King Kong etc. That team was the Golden State Warriors, and their record was 24-0. The Bucks could not have had a better setup for an upset

Alex: It was a win that by all means shouldn’t have happened and couldn’t have happened.  It seemed impossible. A quarter season, still unbeaten, juggernaut was rolling onto the mecca throwback floor in downtown Milwaukee straight for a herd of young bucks slipping, sliding, and finding their footing on the glossy hardwood.  On paper it didn’t make sense, but that's all it is, a piece of paper.  The Bucks reminded us all yesterday that any team in the NBA is deeply talented.  They got help from the Warriors, who missed shots they usually make, but in a credit to the bucks, they made shots they normally miss. They honored their history as streak busters, as it was the same Wisconsin based franchise that stopped the 71-72 Lakers reign of terror all those years ago.  So history has an odd way of repeating itself, and for the beginning of this season that's all that happened for these Warriors. Recent history repeated itself 24 times from October 27th to December 12th.  This is our attempt to put the second longest win streak in the history of the NBA in perspective.

(Just some housekeeping. For sanity's sake we will not be discussing the four games last year though the all time win streak will most certainly be referenced. Sections of the streak will be summarized, but the games where it was closely tested will always be discussed individually)    

Opening Night: New Orleans (0-0)

Alex:  They went to Jared.

Joe:  It was an opening night unlike any that Warriors fans have ever experienced. For the first time since 1975, the Warriors took the court as the defending NBA Champions. But what fans in Rick Barry’s day never got to experience was all of the glamour that surrounded a banner raising/ring ceremony. Steph Curry and co. got their rings, and then focused on the Anthony Davis and the New Orleans Hornets. #30 picked up right where he left off this past summer, scoring 40 points while contributing 6 rebounds and 7 assists. The win did not come as a surprise to anybody, as these were the defending champs taking care of business. What nobody could have expected, however, was that this would be the start of an historic run of W’s for the Dubs.

October 30th to November 2: Houston - Memphis (4-0)

Joe: What was supposed to be a three game gauntlet turned into child's play. After opening night, Golden State’s next three games were all against teams that qualified for the playoffs last season, and oddly enough, the same three teams that the Warriors faced on their path to the finals. But the stretch ended with nary a test from any of those three foes. The league MVP was at the heart of it all. Curry scored 113 points over this three game stretch (37.6 PPG). The next two games were embarrassing. A 50 point win over Memphis at home was procedded by a 112-92 win over the Houston Rockets, in a game that was a letdown to those expecting to see good basketball.

Alex:

That's a bad man right there.  

You know Steph Curry is generally discussed as a nice guy. A humble, soft spoken, stand up family man.  Not just a wonderful basketball player, but a wonderful person.  Theres one thing though that gets him livid though. We all have a pet peeve, and his are seabirds. There's not a man on the planet who bristles more at a flock of gulls, cares less for the emperor penguins (why else would he be further heating the globe with all this hot fire?), or dislikes the mere existence of an albatross as much as he does.  We all know his least favorite though.  Thats right.  The Pelican.  He hung 93 points on the team that bears their name as the result. The worst mistake the New Orleans franchise ever made was putting that glaring longbeak at center court, because as far as we know, Norris Cole and Ish “don’t call him Ishmael” Smith are still lost at sea.         

November 4th: Los Angeles Clippers (5-0)

 

Joe: The seventh anniversary of the 2008 presidential election was also the first time that Golden State met up with their biggest divisional threat in the LA Clippers. There was some bad blood between these two teams last season, and the Warriors certainly wanted to draw first blood in what will turn out to be a four game season series between these California rivals. It was a tight game the whole way through, but the Dubs ended up being too much in the end, winning 112-108 with Curry leading the way with 31 points. It was an exciting contest, but was nothing compared to what the next affair between these two teams would bring.

Alex:

Steph Curry was dropping in 27 foot shots with the game on the line. Festus met Blake up top in what made for the most satisfying block i've ever watched, and it's very possible if Chris Paul had not been subject to a statistical anomaly shooting free throws at the end, this streak, and therefore article, never happen.  Just another dose of the Warriors-Clippers rivalry for you.

November 6th to November 14th: Denver to Minnesota (10-0)

Joe: More of the same. The Dubs went through Denver, Sacramento, Detroit, Memphis (again) and Minnesota, winning those five games by a fairly comfortable average of 13.4 points. Curry led the way once again, and capped off this stretch with a 46 point performance in the Twin cities. It was during this stretch that I think the public began to think that something special just might be brewing.

Alex:  Lob party... Lob party.. LOB PARTY!!! #StephGonnaSteph

November 14th: Brooklyn Nets (11-0)

Joe: This was a test. The Nets gave the Dubs everything they had on this night, but it was not enough. Former Warrior Jarrett Jack played like a stud in his old arena, scoring 28 points to help Brooklyn force OT. The Nets ran out of gas in the extra period, however, as Golden State outscored them 10-2 to escape with a 107-99 victory. Try to guess who the game’s high scorer was.

Alex:

This is a quick tribute to Andre Iguodala.  Everyone discounted his finals MVP last year.  Said it was a joke that someone who “guarded” his man to a 35-9-13 line doesn’t deserve the trophy.  This is ignorant when considering Lebrons usage percentage, and the fact that Iggy was the reason these goddy numbers were hollow is absolutely enough to warrant presenting him the trophy. Especially when you take into account the fact that he played for, you know, the winning team.  Still people whine about a bench player winning the award.  They somehow forget that Iguodala is a starter on every other team in the league, and if he had any ego at all he would be on this one. The old adage goes “it doesn’t matter who starts the game, but who finishes it.”      

He does everything you want on a basketball court which is why he almost finds himself on it with the game on the line.  He’s won them before for Golden State, and in this one he gave them a chance to keep chasing history.

November 17th: Toronto Raptors (12-0)

Joe: After getting out to a 16 point halftime lead, the Raptors made things interesting in the second half. But the Dubs were too much in the end, and escaped with a 115-110 win. Since ‘m tired of writing about Curry, Festus Ezeli had 8 points, 6 rebounds and 4 blocks off the bench.

Alex: 28 points from the man with his head being held, 28 points from the man doing the head holding.  Lowery was also called for a critical offensive foul that would lead to free throws for Steph “why is the basket so close?” Curry on the other end, and inexplicably drove to the basket on a critical possession down three, effectively ending the game.  Though Draymond blocked his shot anyway for good measure.     

November 19th:  Los Angeles Clippers (13-0)

Joe: This has been the game of the year for the Warriors, and maybe the entire NBA. It looked like the Clippers night as they jumped out to a 23 point lead in the first half. But LA would learn the hard way that you can never count out the defending champs. The Dubs owned the second half, outscoring LA 70-49 on their way to a 124-117 victory. Curry was ballin, scoring 40 points and posting 11 assists as well. It was a good time for people who like to laugh at Doc Rivers.

Alex: This game was over.  I have a general rule when watching NBA basketball, that if a team gets down by more than 20 points at anytime in a game they will almost always lose it.  They normally rally back, maybe even take a lead, but rarely do they have enough left to win.  The Clippers absolutely jumped the Warriors in this game. Chris Paul started 9 for 9 his first game back from a groin injury, and before you knew it the warriors were looking at their biggest deficit of the season in the second quarter.  Something flipped though.  The Clipper’s ghosts reared their ugly heads, and their lack of depth materialized as quickly as Austin Rivers dematerialized.  Chris Paul tightened up as the game went along, and the warriors played freer than ever shooting 80+ percent from 3 in the fourth quarter.  The streak should have ended here, and this game will always be the example to me of how special this team is.

Sneaky Iggy will always be my favorite

November 20th to December 2nd: Chicago - Charlotte (20-0)

Joe: It was during this stretch that the Warriors went from scary good to historic. Golden State won seven games by an average of 15.2 points per game, and aside from a three point win over Utah, every win was by double digits. With their 116-99 win over the Charlotte Hornets, the Warriors became the first professional sports team since the 1884 St. Louis Maroons (baseball) to start a season with 20 consecutive wins.

Alex: Curry scored 28 points in the third quarter and 24 straight for his team on his way to 40 on the night they honored his father in Charlotte. #StephStillStephin

December 5th: Toronto Raptors (21-0)

Joe: For the second time, Toronto came close to ending the streak, and they just might have finished the job if not for a 44 point night by the Chef. Toronto fought back from an 11 point halftime deficit, but Curry was just too much, and Golden State escaped the great white north with a 112-109 victory.

Alex: If you had to guess which team was going to give the Warriors the most trouble during this streak I don’t think most people would say the Raptors, especially because they only play them twice all year, but besides the Clippers, the only team that gave the Warriors real trouble multiple times on this run were the raps and their sad new uniforms.  They play a very different style of ball than the Warriors, heavy on Derozan isolations and Lowery spread pick and roll.  It's not pretty but it gets the job done, and it it almost did again this night.  Lowery had a career high 41 which almost guarantees you win the point guard matchup unless of course the other guard has  44.  Derozan, however, was almost a total no show going 1-10 in the first half and finishing with 16 points.             

December 6th and December 8th: Brooklyn - Indiana (23-0)

Joe: It was just another day at the office on December 6th, as Golden State breezed to a 114-98 win over the Brooklyn Nets. The Warriors then proceeded to hold off a late rally from Paul George and the Pacers and hold on for a 131-123 win. This game is particularly notable for Klay Thompson supplanting Curry as the team's high scorer, putting up 39, although he did leave the game with an Ankle injury.

Alex:  The two Nets wins really typify what the same mediocre team can look like two different nights in the NBA.  One night Jarrett Jack gets hot and you lose in overtime to the best team in basketball only because Andre Iguodala hits a miracle three pointer.  The next they lose by 16. The bucks play like these Nets most nights, but as we’ve seen, not all nights.  

Indiana is really notable for Thompson's injury, especially because it came in what amounted to garbage time. It really hurts especially in the context of the streak.   

December 11th: Boston Celtics (24-0)

Joe: So close. Brad Stevens was so close to being the hot shot who ruined perfection, but his team ran out of gas in the end. Fans, watch out for Boston in the future. They are young, they play hard and are very good defensively, and Avery Bradley could be something special. They pushed the Dubs to their very limit, but Golden State showed the grit of a champion and pulled out a 124-119 win in double over-time.  The win over Boston was nice, but it set the stage for the inevitable. The Warriors had to be drained when they travelled to Wisconsin for a game the very next night. They were flat, the Bucks were strong, and the result was a 108-95 loss to a far inferior team. As good as this team is, they were never going to go 82-0. This is still by far the best team in the NBA, and if I had to bet money, I would say that this team will shatter the Bulls single season wins record of 72. We’ll see how accurate that turns out to be.

Alex: Draymond Green won this game.

I won’t go so far as to say they will definitely break the 72 win mark.  Though they had 67 last year and are somehow an even better team now. Health permitting it's definitely possible, but I think it would have to be a conscious decision, and with the goal of a championship in mind, i'm not sure chasing regular season glory is the best path.  This team has made, and continues to make, its case as one of the best of all time.  Where they ends in that hypothetical hierarchy i'm not sure, but this streak will definitely be something pointed to when that discussion comes.