Certain records are believed to be unbreakable, expected to stand for the rest of sporting time. Like Cal Ripken’s 2,632 consecutive games played, or John Wooden’s 88-game win streak with UCLA, or Cy Young’s 511 career wins. The 1996 Chicago Bulls’ 72 victories was on that short list. “Was” because the Golden State Warriors achieved the impossible on Wednesday night. In front of a feverish capacity crowd in Oracle Arena, Stephen Curry led his band of Warriors to victory number 73 of the season, eclipsing Michael Jordan’s 20-year-old record in the process. 
 
The Warriors had little troubling dispatching a depleted Grizzlies squad and gained sole possession of the best regular-season mark in history: 73 wins against nine losses, indisputably the greatest 82-game run ever. They broke the unbreakable.
 
Here are 10 thoughts on the game and the historical win;

1) It’s fitting that this game would belong to Stephen Curry. After all, he is the fulcrum on which the Warriors’ world spins, the one most responsible for turning a comically mediocre franchise into this historically dominant juggernaut. Curry came out of the gates on fire, connecting on six 3-pointers in the game’s first 12 minutes. In total, the MVP scored 46 points on 15-of-24 shooting and made it look effortless. The Grizzlies never had a chance.

2) The spotlight has shined brightest this season on the core trio of Steph, Draymond and Klay (and rightfully so). But let’s give some love to the rest of the roster. HB guarding 4-men and canning corner threes; Iggy’s smothering one-on-one defense and ball denial; Bogut’s screens and under-the-leg passes; Livingston’s turnaround jumper in the post, good for 6 points a game; Rush reviving his career when HB was out; Barbosa’s nightly layup procession; Ezeli rim-dives and power dunks; Ian Clark 3-bombs and floaters; Kevon Looney appearing in five games; and Anderson Varejao … being on the team.

Klay Thompson3) When the Bulls won 72 games in 1995-96 the NBA’s talent pool was nowhere near the level it’s at today (the 80s guys were getting old and retiring; AI, KG and Kobe were young pups; and the influx of international talent had yet to arrive). Moreover, there were two expansion teams for the Bulls to steamroll six times a year. When people mention the greatness of those Bulls and deride this year’s Dubs, they never mention that. The Warriors just won 73 games at a time when the league has never been more talented. The NBA is so stacked right now that Damian Lillard, Dirk Nowitzki, Al Horford, Kevin Love, Karl-Anthony Towns, DeAndre Jordan and Tim Duncan (to name a few) couldn’t even make this year’s All-Star team. I’m not saying that the Warriors are better than those Bulls, I just want to point out that context matters.

4) Part of me feels bad for the Grizzlies. They lose to the Warriors in the playoffs last year after holding a 2-1 lead. They get 50-pieced earlier in the season at Oracle. Gasol and Conley are out for the season. Conley could leave this summer in free agency. And now they’re victim number 73 for the Warriors, making them the answer to esoteric NBA trivia for the rest of time.

5) In four seasons from 1997 to 2001, the Dubs won 76 games. TOTAL.

6) Some Steph Stats: 402 3-pointers. 30.1 points per game, 6.3 points better than last year’s MVP performance. 50/40/90 shooting. 31.5 Player Efficiency Rating (surpassed by only Chamberlain, Jordan and Lebron). 169 steals, tops in the league. And another MVP trophy coming.

Draymond Ball7) “73” is a number math nerds can get excited about.

8) Luke Walton was 39-4 as interim head coach. Steve Kerr finished 34-5.  Can we get a Co-Coach of the Year Award?

9) The Warriors are going to dominate their first-round opponent regardless, but this is a good time to revisit the idea of higher-seeds getting to choose their first-round matchup. With the Grizz as banged up as they are, I’d absolutely rather see them than a potentially feisty James Harden-led Rockets who were thiiiiiis close to knotting last year’s series at 1-1 before Harden’s costly turnover.

10) It should be mentioned that while the Dubs were out making history, Kobe Bryant played the final game of his illustrious career. Farewell, Mamba. Thanks for all the terrible, terrible memories.

One Response

  1. ds207

    I don’t feel bad for the Grizzlies at all, as only a couple of years ago, this is one team that the Dubs just could not match up with, and they finally figured it out when Kerr arrived. Similar to the Spurs this year, it has taken a while to bring in the right players and coaches to beat the unbeatable clubs that used to wipe the floor with the Warriors. Agree that a lot of good stars were neglected for the All star game, but Lillard was shafted by Kobe’s ballot stuffing plain and simple. Understand his retirement situation and all but don’t let him take the spot of a superior player just because he is leaving. Lillard led his team to a surprising playoff berth, while Kobe led the Lakers to last place in the Pacific division.