Daily NBA Fix: The Golden State Warriors vs. History
By Ben Gibson
The Golden State Warriors took care of the Minnesota Timberwolves 129-116 thanks to another crazy shooting performance from Stephen Curry with 46 points (15-for-25, 8-of-13 on three-pointers). The Timberwolves didn’t get blown out by any means, but the Warriors never let them have much of a chance either.
In the battle for the NBA’s MVP Award, Curry is building a campaign on his scoring prowess and is on pace for over 400 made three-pointers.
To be exact, Curry’s current pace is 426.4 of 902.0 (47.3 percent) on three-pointers this season. Obviously that’s absolutely ridiculous but at the same time, his pace hasn’t fallen below 400 made three-pointers since the second game of the season. He set the record at 286 made last season and it seems that record is destined to fall. I’ll be keeping track of it all season long, but so far it doesn’t seem crazy to believe he’ll make more than 300.
The Warriors are winning no matter how much Curry shoots and they’re 10-0. Can they win 70? It is looking more and more possible. Last season they won 67 games and probably didn’t have the record of 70 in their minds last season.
They were given their 10th loss on Feb. 22 last season and through 10 games had lost two games already. By the time they got to late February they had taken losses to the Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix Suns, Utah Jazz and Indiana Pacers in games they could win if they were gunning for the record.
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It is by no means easy, especially now that they have the “defending champions” target on their back. But at the same time there are only a few teams that are a real threat to beat them on any given night. They’ve only gotten better since last year and they only need to be three games better than they were a year before.
They’ve already picked up one more win than they were projected to have so far this season. The numbers are against them, and if I was betting my money, it would also be against them, but it isn’t a given that they can’t win 70 or more games.
They have the Brooklyn Nets at home on Saturday, so they should be at remain on pace with a 11-0 record.
Lob City’s Northern Neighbor
The Clippers looked to be taking the night off in Phoenix but Festus Ezeli and Andrew Bogut picked up the slack for Lob City with a trio of worthy alley-oops against the Timberwolves.
Suns Hammer Clippers
The Phoenix Suns looked dominant last night against the Los Angeles Clippers in their 118-104 win, with Eric Bledsoe scoring 26 and Brandon Knight scoring 37 to tie his career high.
It probably helped that Chris Paul and J.J. Redick were M.I.A, and that Blake Griffin was thrown out in the second quarter for his second technical.
Putting the Ki-Bosh on Gordon Hayward
The Miami Heat defeated the Utah Jazz on Thursday night thanks to their defense that kept their opponent to 38.2 percent shooting on the night. One of the best ways to keep your opponents from making baskets is blocking their shots as Chris Bosh demonstrated with his swatting of Gordon Hayward in the 4th quarter in Miami. The Heat won 92-91.