It was fun while it lasted, wasn’t it? But if you saw how tired the Golden State Warriors were at the end of their double-overtime victory over the Boston Celtics on Friday night, you had to know they’d be gassed the following night in Milwaukee. That they were, not to mention hobbled with Klay Thompson playing on a bad ankle and Harrison Barnes missing another game. And like all good things, the streak came to an end. Tonight they will no doubt
Inevitably, the Golden State Warriors are going to lose a game. Probably more than one game. Perfection is impossible in the NBA, despite what we’ve seen from Stephen Curry and Co. over the first four weeks of the season. The numbers associated with Golden State’s season-opening winning streak are mind-boggling – even more so when we start comparing them to the numbers put up by the Chicago Bulls during the 1995-96 season, when they won an NBA-record 72 games. Golden State is
For months, the Golden State Warriors heard the taunts of lucky and fluky and worse. Now, the defending NBA champions have begun to answer their critics as if to say, ‘OK, if we win ’em all, then would that be good enough for you?” The Warriors aren’t quite 82-0 yet — they’re only 10-0 — but their start has been so drop-dead dominant, so utterly impressive that it makes you wonder if theirs can be one of those seasons for the ages. Six of the victories came against playoff
Note to those who like to make historical comparisons ( and to those who believe history started when Al Gore invented the Internet: The Golden State Warriors are off to a better start than the Chicago Bulls team that set an NBA record with a 72-10 record exactly two decades ago. Those Bulls started 5-0 before their first loss; these Warriors have already surpassed that. Back in November of 1995, nobody was talking about the possibility of the Bulls breaking the single-season
Because it’s early October and we have college hoops practices getting underway, along with NBA preseason action, I figured it was a good time to give my basketball lifer’s opinion on some different rankings and lists I’ve thought about and put together. Why have I done this? Well in this country, we count championships and rings. We keep score and rank and list. I can hear my wife laughing now saying “these are the things you are wasting your brain power on and thinking about during your
There was a train wreck at Penn Station last season. It was known as the New York Knicks, who endured the worst season in franchise history. It happened under the watch of Phil Jackson, one of the franchise’s heroes and a name synonymous with winning in the NBA. Jackson and the Knicks went to work this offseason in the draft and in free agency to get the team back on track. Despite concerns from fans about drafting the next Frederic Weis, the
What would it take for Kobe Bryant to win the 2015-2016 NBA MVP award? As we handicap the MVP race for the 2015-2016 season, we’ll take a look at last season’s top five finishers— Stephen Curry, James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Anthony Davis and LeBron James— along with Kevin Durant. But a question many Angelenos and basketball fans around the world have is what kind of numbers would Bryant have to put up in his age-37 season to take home the crown? To
For the Charlotte Hornets, it has been a summer filled with excitement after yet another disappointing season of missing the playoffs. After the Hornets held some hope for the future by making the playoffs in the 2013-2014 season, last year was plagued by injuries to Kemba Walker and Al Jefferson and the team finished 33-49, 10 fewer wins than the previous season. A year ago, there was plenty of excitement and hope surrounding the signing of Lance Stephenson, but that plan didn’t work