They also became the fifth National Basketball Association team to win 20 in a row (including four at the end of last season) while also recording their 27th consecutive victory at Oracle.
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Walton referred to the 16-game winning streak as a “mini goal”. “As long as we stay locked in and continue to be who we are and play as a team and continue to play with each other, I think the sky is the limit”.
With their coach sidelined, the Warriors surpassed the 15-0 starts by the Washington Capitols of 1948-49 and the 1993-94 Houston Rockets.
Tuesday’s contest was over within minutes, as Draymond Green and Stephen Curry blitzed the overmatched Lakers from the opening tip, creating a 30-11 margin at the end of the first quarter.
“We’re proud of this moment”.
“Normally when you win a championship”, Scott said, “unless you’ve got a bunch of veterans on that team you seem to have that little bit of a lull when you go into the season to start”.
The record-setting victory against the Lakers came in such dominant fashion that Warriors starters spent the entire fourth quarter savoring it while sitting on the bench.
Then again, look at their next dozen opponents: Suns, Kings, Jazz, Hornets, Raptors, Nets, Pacers, Celtics, Bucks, Suns, Bucks, Jazz.
“Anything’s possible. But is (33) likely to happen?”
Oh, it’s probably worth noting that the Clippers beat the Lakers by 34 points to break the NBA’s record for most consecutive wins to start a season.
The Warriors are not even halfway there and have shown some flashes of one-game vulnerability of late (a rough game against the Nets, for example).
“It feels great, especially the way we did it”, Walton said. “During the streak, we had some slippage, had some games that we really didn’t play like ourselves”. Because even though many act like it, Stephen Curry isn’t actually the only reason for their 16-0 record. Last night, they spent 38 minutes leading by at least 15 points – their most in any game over the last two seasons.
Bryant-who played one of the worst games of his career Wednesday night, making only one of 14 shots-said the key for the Warriors maintaining their dominance will be battling complacency. That shooting percentage of seven percent matches a career low for Bryant, according to ESPN.
Thirteen games away from breaking the record, Curry already has that target in mind.
Curry’s first of four 3-pointers triggered the runaway.
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It was Bryant’s woeful one-for-14 shooting performance in the Lakers’ 111-77 loss to the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday night that led to Scott being quizzed 11 times about Bryant.
