What is there left for the Golden State Warriors & Stephen Curry to prove after winning the NBA championship and the league MVP award? Doing it again, while making all those that doubted them and talked about luck eat their words.
The Warriors are off to a 4-0 start following a 119-69 demolition of the Memphis Grizzlies. Yes, they beat them by 50 points. A team that took them to six games in the conference semifinals six months ago. It’s the worst loss in franchise history for the Grizzlies. They were outscored 72-27 over the second and third quarters. The Warriors have won their four first games by a combined 100 points, a new record, beating the 1961-1962 Celtics by one point. It’s also their first 50-point win since beating Sacramento 153-91 on Nov. 2, 1991.
Stephen Curry scored 30 points without even playing in the fourth quarter. He was coming off a 53-point performance in the win over the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday, in which he scored 28 points (This time he settled for just 21 in the thi) in the third quarter alone. He’s averaging 37 points so far this season with a 50.5 PER (!!!), shooting 59.5% from the field and 48.8% from beyond the arc. He even has time for 6.3 assists per game, with the Warriors playing a fast enough pace (104.7) to make it possible for him without actually hogging the ball.
The Warriors as a team haven’t run in to any trouble so far. Their closest win was a 14-point breezer against the Pelicans, who they also beat by 16 points on opening night. They had no problem carving up the Rockets in between with a 20-point victory, completing four wins over three Western conference teams they knocked out in the playoffs last season. They’re doing so while leading the league in effective field goal percentage, true shooting percentage offensive efficiency (115.2 points per 100 possessions) and net rating (+26.7 per 100 possessions).
Where do they stop? Can they be stopped? At some point, they probably will. Playing the Los Angeles Clippers (although it is in the Oracle Arena) might be their first difficult game of the season, although it’s hard to see what this team can find difficult. They’re playing at such a high level right now, despite Steve Kerr not being on the sidelines, it’s hard imagining them dropping a game to anyone. And with Curry looking like the absolute combination of team player and best player on the planet, even if it’s just the regular season in its early stages, the imagination is running wild as to what this team can achieve.