If you aren’t aware of the Warriors hot streak to begin the season, then you must not be a big basketball fan. Golden State is 7-0, and have done it in pretty convincing fashion. They’ve had one close game, and that was against the Los Angeles Clippers, and they even had a double digit lead in that game. Yes, they were also down by double digits, but they were able to came back. Why? Because they’re the best team in the NBA by far. So the question has come up? When will the Warriors lose, if ever? Let’s take a look at some numbers first.
They’ve won 5 of their 7 games by double digits, including a 50 point thrashing of the Memphis Grizzlies. Their other victories margin? 16 points, 20 points, 14 points, 4 points, 15 points, 9 points. That’s pretty impressive. They have 5 players who are currently averaging double digit points. 6 if you want to include Andrew Bogut who has only appeared in 1 game this season. Stephen Curry is leading the league in scoring at 33.9 points a game. They are dishing out nearly 30 assists a game on 42 made field goals, led by Stephen Curry and Draymond Green who are dishing out 6 apiece.
As a team they’re scoring 115.7 points a game, while allowing only 97.4. Their point differential of 18.3 is the best in the league by nearly 9 points. Golden State is allowing their opponents to only shoot 41% from the field, which is good for 5th in the league, while they’re shooting 47.2% from the field, also good for 5th in the league. This team is very capable of putting points on the board, and they do it better than just about any team in the league.
They haven’t been blessed with an easy schedule either. Their first five games were against four teams that made the playoffs a season ago. They’ve beaten the Pelicans twice, a team picked to go back to the post season. Houston also fell to the Warriors, and they too are picked to go back to the post season, as are the Grizzlies and Clippers, again teams that the Warriors have beaten. The Clippers gave them their toughest competition so far, beating them by only 4 points after overcoming a 10 point deficit late in the game.
So when will Golden State lose? Well, honestly, it could come as soon as their next game against the Detroit Pistons. The Pistons have come out on fire to begin the season. The Pistons are 5-1, and have beaten playoff teams in the Hawks, and Bulls, and potential playoff teams in the Jazz and Suns. They’re being led by Andre Drummond who has gotten off to a monster start averaging 20.3 points and 20.3 rebounds. They also have Reggie Jackson running the show, averaging 23.2 points and 5.7 assists on the season. Now, the problem with Detroit is that they don’t really score the ball a lot. They’re 19th in the league at 99.7 points. But they only allow 94 points a game, which is 5th in the league. However, they’re facing the highest scoring team in the league. Can their defense hold up? That’s going to be an interesting matchup.
Andre Drummond has been key for the Pistons so far. He’s been named Eastern Conference Player of the Week the first two weeks of the season and has three 20-20 games on the young season. The problem with this team so far, is the lack of scoring coming off the bench. For example, their last game against the Blazers, the bench had 16 of the 120 points. The Warriors have one of the best benches in the league. But part of that can be attributed to the Warriors gaining big leads so early in the contest, that it give Luke Walton time to give the bench players more minutes. The more court time they see, the more confidence they’re going to have.
So Detroit has a good chance to beat the Warriors, if this game wasn’t being played at Oracle. The Warriors are just about unstoppable at home. The Pistons can keep it close, but ultimately Golden State should walk away with the victory to move to 8-0 on the season.
After that, they really don’t have a threat. They have back to back road games against the Grizzlies and Timberwolves. We’ve seen what they can do to Memphis and Golden State should walk into that game with a load of confidence. Don’t sleep on Minnesota. Ricky Rubio is better defensively than people give him credit for. Also, rookie Karl Anthony Towns has been balling. The Timverwolves might not beat them, but they’ll make it a game. After two home games against Brooklyn and Toronto, which should be another two wins because Golden State simply doesn’t lose at home, the Warriors go to Los Angeles to face the Clippers, their toughest opponent all season.
And this is where they should suffer their first loss of the season. The Clippers match up really well with the Warriors. They had a 10 point lead on the Warriors before Golden State made a comeback to win by 4. Chris Paul is a great defender and if anyone can contain Stephen Curry, it’s him. Blake Griffin and Draymond Green always have great battles and it’s always entertaining to watch. Draymond Green is an outstanding defender, but Blake Griffin is pretty skilled offensively. Then you have JJ Redick who moves without the basketball so well. DeAndre Jordan can pretty much catch the basketball wherever at the rim, and protect it on the other end. Lance Stephenson should be able to contain Harrison Barnes pretty well, and has shown signs of the passer he was in Indiana. They’ve also both got pretty good benches. At this point LA should be gelling really well together.
So after starting the season 13-0, the Warriors should suffer their first loss of the season against the Los Angeles Clippers, writing yet another chapter in the great Clippers vs Warriors rivalry that has been extremely entertaining.
