Warriors’ pursuit of history takes toll CHASING BULLS: Golden State needs four wins, with two games against Spurs still to play
OAKLAND, Calif. — For five months, the Golden State Warriors have doggedly pursued history, piling one win on top of another as they’ve rolled toward the 1996 Chicago Bulls’ seemingly unbeatable regular season record of 72 wins.
But for even the greatest of teams — and, given how they’ve played thus far, Golden State has a chance to earn that title — chasing history is a heavy burden. It is omnipresent and inescapable, always sitting at the forefront of everyone’s minds, never more so than in these final few days when the record is within sight.
That’s why Friday’s 109-106 loss to the Boston Celtics at Oracle Arena wasn’t a shocking result. The cracks have been showing in the Warriors’ foundation for some time.
Wednesday night in Utah, it took a series of events going Golden State’s way to prevent a loss. Nine days before that, the Warriors found themselves in a game right down to the wire with the cellar-dwelling Minnesota Timberwolves.
So what is happening to this team, one that seemed like an unstoppable juggernaut for much of this season? It’s not too hard to figure out.
Andre Iguodala, Golden State’s best weapon off the bench, has played three games over the past month because of an ankle injury, while centre Festus Ezeli has been out two months with knee issues. That has led to extra minutes placed on everyone else.
Then there’s the simple fact the finish line is truly within reach. It was one thing for the Warriors, after winning their opening 24 games, to spend the past five months trying to chase down that record-setting win total; it’s another thing now, with five games to go, to be within four wins of breaking it.
The daily wear and tear of such a pursuit on a team’s mental state is as difficult to overcome as the physical strain of enduring the NBA’s 82-game regular season.
It would also be foolish to think this team wasn’t contemplating what it would mean to become the first team to go a perfect 41-0 at home for a season. After that goal was snuffed by Friday’s loss, Stephen Curry claimed it didn’t cross his mind during the game.
Given how much Curry thinks about these kinds of things — a lot, just like every great player — that simply isn’t believable. The pursuit of history is all anyone around the Warriors is thinking about.
None of this is meant to signal the Warriors are being figured out, or their chances of defending the title have diminished. On the contrary, Golden State’s ability to survive — and thrive — under the weight only reinforces how truly special this team has become.
There are only two teams that have won 65 games in consecutive regular seasons: the 1996 and ’97 Bulls and the 2015 and ’16 Warriors.
With a win Sunday over the Portland Trail Blazers, the Warriors have joined the 1997 Bulls and 1972 Los Angeles Lakers for second all time with 69 wins in a season. Only the 1996 Bulls remain ahead.
It takes not only tremendous talent, but an equally impressive focus and determination to grind through the league’s unforgiving marathon of a regular season in such a way.
But to make history, the Warriors are going to have to run hard through the tape. It’s not going to be easy.
The final five games include facing the second-place San Antonio Spurs — a team with 64 wins already this season as well — twice in four days.
But breaking a significant record isn’t supposed to be easy — especially not when doing so means Golden State would enter the playoffs knowing a title would give it claim to being the greatest team in NBA history.
Immortality doesn’t come easily.