The Golden State Warriors are beating opponents with ease at this point.
Last night was a perfect example of their dominance. The Warriors were trailing the very good Oklahoma City Thunder entering the fourth quarter, but with Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green no lead is safe. Golden State ended up beating OKC by 15 after thrashing them 39-23 in the fourth quarter of last night’s 121-106 victory, and Curry only played 6:32 in the fourth. Of course, he dropped 11 of his game-high 33 points, but still!
Warriors take 63-61 lead into the Half as @StephenCurry30 has 19 pts. and another deep three-pointer pic.twitter.com/jC5ZDw5P3z
— Laurence Scott (@LaurenceScott) March 4, 2016
The win pushed the Warriors record to 55-5 and players are openly hunting the Chicago Bulls’ all-time single-season win record. Though while the players may be hoping to best 72 wins, head coach Steve Kerr said resting players down the stretch is more important.
“Resting, that will take precedence,” Kerr told Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports. “We will rest guys if they need it before we will go for any kind of streak or record, that’s for sure.”
“In the end, it’s still the title that matters the most,” Kerr said. “Having said that, this team, one of the reasons they are special is they take so much joy in the process of each game. They don’t talk much about records. But our guys have a lot of fun from one night to the next.
Curry is taking the why not both approach, saying he’s okay with pursuing the record as long as the team keeps focusing on the ultimate goal.
“Honestly, if we are a 70-win team and champions versus a 73-win team and depleted energy and banged up going into the playoffs, we’re trying to avoid that. But at the same token, it’s a tough balance. How many times are you going to have this opportunity?”
"50 games over .500 … Crazy. You can’t even dream this stuff up." – Steve Kerr » https://t.co/yLPkrg5xlZhttps://t.co/f9iKnrocoB
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) March 4, 2016
It’s easy to see both sides here, although Kerr’s strategy is probably for the best. Besting 72 wins would be a great accomplishment, but wouldn’t mean much if the Warriors are too banged up to win in the playoffs. By resting players and ensuring their health, Golden State should be in much better shape come playoff time, even if it dampens the 73-win aspirations. Still, Kerr was a player on that 72-win Bulls team, so it’s fun to wonder if this team doesn’t make it to 72 wins because he’s resting players, if his old teammates may have had anything to do with it.
Given the way the entire Warriors team played against OKC—Thompson had 21, Barnes and Green both with 14 and Shaun Livingston and Marreese Speights were a combined plus-28—it’s hard to think this team will lose another five games even with their stars resting.
