By Yama Hazheer
The Warriors continued their dominance Wednesday night against the Clippers, but it was unlike anything we’ve seen this season. They were actually down in the final quarter.
Golden State confidently beat the Pelicans in the first game of the season after an emotional ceremony where they received their championship rings and raised the 2014-15 banner.
They dominated the Rockets in Houston in the second game to prove that they weren’t even on the same tier.
Game 3 was a Steph Curry special, where he erupted for 53 points on Halloween in New Orleans to beat them for a second time in less than a week.
Memphis got crushed in a 50-point defeat by the hands of the Warriors. It was one of the most lopsided wins in franchise history.
Five games in and we finally got to see the contest that everyone was looking forward to: Steph Curry vs. Chris Paul, Draymond Green vs. Blake Griffin,Luke Walton (yes) vs. Doc Rivers, and yup, the Warriors vs. the Clippers. Both teams have been jawing back and forth this off-season. Doc Rivers claimed the Warriors were lucky to win the title while Klay Thompson said they “smacked” the Clippers last season. It was ultimately time to walk the walk after all the talk was done and the Warriors showed up. Harrison Barnes showed up. Festus Ezeli showed up. And surprise, surprise, the MVP showed up.
Curry was able to shake off early foul trouble in the first quarter and put the Clippers away in the fourth despite being down by ten points. Chef went to work and connected on clutch three-pointers to give the Dubs a convincing victory after all. After the game, Curry said that the Warriors are better than they were last season.
He’s probably right.
Curry broke his three-point record last season and made only 10 within his first four games, he made 21 in his first four games this year and added on seven more Wednesday to give him 28. “He’s a winner, and he showed why he’s MVP of the league right now,” Luke Walton said.
Klay Thompson has yet to have a signature game this year, yet the Warriors are one of the two 5-0 teams in the league. Steve Kerr hasn’t coached a game, but the Warriors are 5-0. Andrew Bogut has played in one game, but the Warriors are 5-0. This team was great last year and it’s scary to think that they could be even better.
Four out of the six next teams the Warriors play missed the postseason last year. The only one that made it were the Grizzlies, who the Warriors beat by half-a-hundred points already this season. The other is the Nets, who were the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference. Reports circulated Wednesday that Steve Kerr could be out until All-Star break, but nothing has been confirmed yet. Either way, the Warriors are rolling and Kerr can take all the time he wants at the moment.
It’s too soon to say, but Steph Curry could be right.
They are still 62 wins away to match the amount of wins they had last year, but there are 77 games left. And at this pace, Curry has to be the easy favorite to win MVP again. He’s playing like the best player in the world. And once again, his squad looks like the best basketball team on the planet.