JUST CAN’T WAIT TO GET ON ROAD AGAIN
Record in sight: After 14 straight road wins, Warriors will eclipse franchise mark with a victory in Houston Saturday; they’re two wins from tying NBA record
The Warriors haven’t broken any monumental NBA records lately because they pretty much have gobbled up most of the major ones over the past three seasons. But they’re on the cusp of another cherished mark that’s definitely worth going after.
Consecutive road victories. The Warriors are at 14 straight, which ties their franchise best set two seasons ago at the outset of their unprecedented 73-9 campaign. A win at Houston on Saturday breaks that club record and ties them for second with the 1994-95 Utah Jazz on the all-time NBA list.
Breaking the franchise mark is all well and good, but the ones that really should be coveted would be the next two after that. A 16th straight would tie them with one of the greatest teams ever, the 1971-72 NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers team led by Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain that still holds the league record for overall consecutive victories at 33.
Presuming the Warriors can win at Houston, they will play three home games next week during which they can contemplate tying the Lakers’ record Jan. 30 at Utah. Three nights later, they could conceivably be going for the record-breaker of 17 straight in Sacramento on Feb. 2.
Why should the Warriors be so geared up to get that record? Well, for one thing, it gives them something to be motivated to pursue in this regular season beyond just getting through it en route to the far more important playoff quest.
Beyond that, though, this would be a fantastic, cherished record to have. Consistently winning on the road is the toughest thing to do in the NBA, and the Warriors have clearly
“The Warriors haven’t been beaten down on the road since that brutal stretch last season in which they played eight games in 13 days, seven on the road, and seven of those eight without Kevin Durant, who suffered a knee injury in the second game of that sausage-grind run at Washington.”
mastered it as well as anybody in league history these past four seasons.
Of course, they established the NBA’s best regular-season road record ever two seasons ago went they went 34-7 away from Oracle Arena. But they might be even better on the road now.
Consider that they are 21-3 this season on the road, were 7-1 in last year’s playoffs away from home, and also won their final five games of the 2016-17 regular season away from Oracle. Added up, that’s a 33-4 road record dating to mid-March. That’s obscene, people.
The Warriors haven’t been beaten down on the road since that brutal stretch last season in which they played eight games in 13 days, seven on the road, and seven of those eight without Kevin Durant, who suffered a knee injury in the second game of that sausage-grind run at Washington.
The Warriors absorbed three straight losses at the end of that stretch — a home defeat to a refreshed Boston team that had been waiting for them, a stinging one-point road defeat at Minnesota and finally a blowout at San Antonio the next night when coach Steve Kerr rested four of his regular starters and went with an opening lineup of Patrick McCaw, Matt Barnes, Shaun Livingston, Zaza Pachulia and Kevon Looney. Even Damian Jones played 20 minutes in that one.
But ever since that March 11, 2017, game, the Warriors have been relentlessly remarkable away from home. Their four losses? The Game 4 NBA Finals defeat at Cleveland. An early season drubbing at Memphis (they’re good for one of those per season), that strange collapse at Boston in which they led by 15 in each half only to blow both leads, and a Nov. 22 defeat at Oklahoma City in which the Thunder’s power trio of Russell Westbrook, Paul George and Carmelo Anthony was firing on all cylinders.
The Warriors haven’t lost on the road since — nearly two months.
The six-game road trip sweep that started this amazing streak was impressive and the three gamer in which they blew through Dallas, Houston and the L.A. Clippers wasn’t too bad, either. But this current trip might be one of their best ever, even if they have played decidedly imperfect games — wins against three likely Eastern Conference playoff teams in Milwaukee, Toronto and Cleveland, then a trap-game survival victory at Chicago in which Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala didn’t play and rookie Jordan Bell was injured within the first minute.
The victories of late might not be so pretty, but they are still victories, and even more notable, tough road victories where you take them however you can get them. It reflects not only the Warriors’ superior talent but also the incredible toughness they have developed in hostile environments. They have become virtually impervious to intimidation from host teams and host crowds, and that’s a rare, rare trait.
You have to be a longtime Warrior fan to understand just how rare and impressive it is. The 197475 championship Warriors were under .500 on the road at 17-24. The team the following season that won 59 games only went 23-18 away from home. The “We Believe” team in 2006-07? A mere 21-20.
And then there were the bad Warriors teams. Over five straight seasons from 1997 to 2002, they did not even manage one doubledigit win total and had 35 road wins altogether during that stretch … plus 154 defeats. They have had 13 seasons in the Bay Area in which they couldn’t get 10 road wins. And then there was 1987-88, when their road record was a mighty 4-37.
That’s more road losses than the Warriors have had in the first 3 ½ seasons under Kerr. The Warriors are 114-33 on the road in the regular season since he took over for Mark Jackson (who established the road trend in his final season at 24-17). That’s flat-out phenomenal. No NBA team in history can match that rate. Throw in a 17-10 road record in the playoffs for even more formidable fodder.
The ability to win big on the road is one of the primary pillars of these Warriors’ greatness. It’s going to be one of the most stalwart things that will be remembered about them when their era is over and they are measured against the best teams ever. It might ultimately make them THE best.
That’s why that consecutive road victories record would be nice for the Warriors to go get. It’s too close not to, and it will be one more very big chip that helps sets them apart historically. Championships will still represent the biggest chips, of course, but the smaller ones will matter, too, in the final accounting. Get greedy, fellas.