Some will say — and have already said — that the Golden State Warriors are not the owners of a 27-game NBA regular season winning streak after disposing of the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday night:
https://twitter.com/dkurtenbach/status/674424599380013057
That’s entirely fair.
However, it’s just as fair to stand on the other side and say that the Dubs have registered 27 straight dubs in regular season competition — that is what they have in fact done.
The big milestone the Warriors are chasing this season is 72, the Chicago Bulls’ win total in the 1995-1996 season. However, after clearing the Indiana hurdle on the road, near the end of a seven-game road swing, the Warriors’ more immediate pursuit of NBA immortality is coming into focus.
The scenario could not be more appealing or fascinating.
If Golden State does win its next five games, to create a 32-game regular season winning streak, the Warriors would be one game away from tying the all-time record, set by the 1971-1972 Los Angeles Lakers.
If the Warriors are to reach “the big 33,” just exactly when would they be able to do so?
Try Christmas Day. On national television. At home. Versus LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Come on — you can’t make this stuff up.
The NBA would legitimately arrive at its most significant Christmas Day game ever. Other games might have been accompanied by more raw star power (think of LeBron and Kobe and D-Wade on the same floor for a Heat-Laker game), but no contest would match the significance of Cavs-Warriors — or offer the promise of such lasting historical resonance — if indeed the Dubs have a “32-W” next to their name.
LeBron, the best player in the world. Stephen Curry, the best player at the moment on a team which could become one of the greatest of all time.
The Cavaliers, the team trying to cross the final threshold and bring Cleveland a long-sought professional sports championship. The Warriors, starting an NBA season in a way no other team has ever (quite) done.
Kyrie Irving and (or) Iman Shumpert could be back for the Cavs, too… as though such a matchup needed any additional reason to gain the attention of viewers.
We are so close from a mega-event in the NBA, a moment which would give the league a remarkable degree of publicity before the changing of the calendar year.
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There’s a Monday Night Football game — and a pretty big one at that — on December 28. The Cincinnati Bengals visit the Denver Broncos in what could very well determine either the No. 1 seed in the AFC postseason or — at the very least — the all-important first-round bye in the playoffs, which is a very big step for teams which harbor realistic aspirations of reaching the Super Bowl. The NFL is king in this country, and no explanation of that reality is needed.
Why the reference to this?
If the Warriors beat LeBron on Christmas and move their regular season streak to 33 wins, they would be able to pass the 1972 Lakers on the night of December 28, going up against Bengals-Broncos.
It would not be unreasonable to say that the Warriors’ game that night against the Sacramento Kings would be a bigger deal than Bengals-Broncos… and Cincinnati-Denver could easily become one of the defining games of the 2015 NFL season.
Seeing the Warriors capture the imagination of sports fans across America has been something to behold (and savor). The team game — a five-as-one symphony of flowing, harmonic movements — is a joy to watch when played at its zenith, and the Dubs are doing exactly that. The idea that an NBA team (and story) could cut into King Football’s ratings dominance (don’t forget the bowl games) in the final week of December is a remarkable idea to contemplate.
That the idea does not seem very preposterous is a testament to the power of what the Warriors are doing.
Before they get to LeBron and the Cavs on Christmas, however, a few obstacles stand in their way, the biggest ones this Friday and Saturday.
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The Warriors received good news regarding Klay Thompson’s health status. X-rays came back negative after Thompson injured his ankle late in the win over Indiana on Tuesday. However, he won’t be 100 percent for Friday’s next game in Boston against the Celtics. That game could easily become the streak-buster, given who’s on the other bench.
Brad Stevens is a gifted head coach. He has Boston overachieving this season, and last season, he lost twice to the Warriors by a combined total of just eight points. The game in Boston ended with a five-point margin for the Dubs, but that was the stiffer test of the two for the eventual NBA champions, who also won by three over the Cs in Oakland.
Boston led at home, 56-30, midway through the second quarter, before the Warriors — also in the middle of a long Eastern road swing (as they are now) — stormed back. Golden State slapped a 31-15 fourth quarter on the Celtics to win, 106-101, yet another testament to its resilience and, more precisely, the Warriors’ ability to play the way they want to when the moment requires it. Given that Klay Thompson probably won’t play a full complement of minutes, and given that Harrison Barnes is still hurt, the opening for the Celtics exists. That’s test number one in the pursuit of the 1972 Lakers and their 33-win rampage.
If the Warriors can get past Boston, they would visit Milwaukee on Saturday night on the back end of a back-to-back. The Bucks created a pronounced split in the NBA community in the offseason. Milwaukee — more than most teams — had a critical camp and a supportive camp. So far, the critics’ concerns and fears have been validated, though coach Jason Kidd has a lot of season to work with. The Bucks actually play the Warriors a second time before Christmas, but this first meeting — in light of the back-to-back — figures to be the tougher challenge for a banged-up Golden State roster. If the Dubs emerge from this patch of the schedule without blemish, the road to 33 becomes very realistic.
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If you look at the Warriors’ schedule over the next two and a half weeks (leading up to Christmas against the Cavaliers), you will notice that not only do the Warriors begin a long homestand (five games) after Saturday’s visit to Milwaukee; they play games with ample rest breaks in between. The Dec. 12 game in Wisconsin is followed by only three games in the following week and a half: Dec. 16 versus Phoenix; Dec. 18 in the return game versus the Bucks in Oakland; and Dec. 23 against Utah. Then comes Christmas against Santa-Bron.
Being realistic and anything but hyperbolic, if the Warriors can handle this Celtics-Bucks back-to-back set, they’re in very good position to give the NBA (and ABC) a gigantic television rating on Christmas at 5 Eastern against Cleveland.
Let’s see what happens Friday in Boston and go from there, as the Golden State Traveling Road Show pursues a special piece of NBA history.
