USA TODAY International Edition
Perfect ending for 2015
Warriors’ run caps epic sports year
Here it is mid- December, and as the days of a magnificent sports year melt away, a question emerges: Is 2015 saving its best for last?
I don’t want to jinx Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors, but it’s almost as if American Pharoah, the U. S. women’s soccer team, Serena Williams and Jordan Spieth are saying, collectively, “Can you top this?”
The answer from the Warriors so far? “We’re trying.”
You don’t have to watch the NBA religiously or recognize anyone in the league beyond LeBron, Kobe and Curry to know that something special is happening in Northern California. The Warriors, the 2014- 15 NBA champions, extended their unbeaten streak to 27 games ( all 23 this season and the last four regular- season games last season) with a 131- 123 victory against the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday night.
That ties the 2012- 13 Miami Heat for the second- most consecutive victories in NBA histo-
ry. The league record is 33 in a row, set by the 1971- 72 Los Angeles Lakers.
So, if the Warriors win their next five games, their chance to tie the Lakers will come at home on Christmas Day against their old friends, the Cleveland Cavaliers.
If they win that game, they could set the record three days later against the Sacramento Kings, and if we really want to dream, they play two more games, including one in Houston on New Year’s Eve, before the year is out. Win them all and that would be 36 consecutive victories, but who’s counting? We are, that’s who. A sports year this good deserves an ending this compelling. You can make the case that Curry and his Warriors already are the 2015 Sportsmen of the Year, but if they were to tie, then beat, the Lakers of Wilt Chamberlain and Jerry West, that certainly would seal the deal.
Not only is their dominance bridging two distinct seasons, it’s also incredibly appealing. Name another pro team that has combined this level of perfection with the off- the- charts level of likability displayed by Golden State. The Warriors crush teams with a smile.
As good as Curry and the Warriors have been, 2015 has been so full of exceptional athletes and performances that you could make a strong argument for yearend honors for someone else.
So let’s do it. Let’s split this up into three categories: men, women and horses.
There was a time this summer when Spieth looked to be the man of the sports year. He won the first two majors in men’s golf, becoming the first to do that since Tiger Woods 13 years earlier, then finished one stroke out of a playoff at the British Open and three strokes behind winner Jason Day at the PGA Championship. That’s about as fine a season of major golf as we’re going to see in these intensely competitive times.
Novak Djokovic won three of the four men’s Grand Slam events for the second time in his career and made the final of the fourth ( French Open). Tom Brady won the Super Bowl and Deflategate. Bryce Harper won his first MVP award.
The Sportswoman/ women of the year category is just as packed. Williams would have been the athlete of the year, period, had she won the U. S. Open and completed the first Grand Slam in tennis by a man or woman since 1988, but she lost. Ronda Rousey rocketed to cultural stardom, but then she lost. Swimmer Katie Ledecky and gymnast Simone Biles will be battling for this honor next year if the Rio Olympics go as well as their 2015 seasons did.
But this year, it’s all about Carli Lloyd and her U. S. Soccer teammates, who set records for viewership and ticker- tape parades as they won the nation’s first World Cup in 16 years.
Now, about that horse. For the first time since 1978, there was a Triple Crown winner. American Pharoah won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes, then came back in late October to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic. That’s a stellar year.
We could call it Curry- esque.