While Kobe Bryant will be playing in his final game when the Lakers host Utah, Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors (72-9) are on the verge of setting the single-season record for wins.
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There had been some question about how aggressively the Warriors would pursue the wins record – they locked up home-court advantage through the playoffs a week ago and could have rested their players ahead of the playoffs – but the players were eager to make history. Curry’s virtuosity has also made some sports video games obsolete because he outperforms the virtual players. Things have only escalated from that point and have now reached their climax on Wednesday night in their final game of the regular season. I thought it was like (Joe) DiMaggio’s hit streak, really.
Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors gestures in the first half against the Memphis Grizzlies.
If the Warriors are able to stay calm and collective along with not being too overwhelmed in the moment, fans from across the country will see Steph Curry and crew go down in the record book in Oakland, California on Wednesday night.
The Warriors are now 16 victories away from more glory as they are set to defend their National Basketball Association title in this year’s playoffs.
“I was aware of the 400, but we wanted to win the game”, Kerr said. But that April 5 overtime loss to the Timberwolves – who were 26-51 at the time – forced them to win their remaining four games to clinch the record.
The atmosphere at Oracle Arena had a mixture of the NBA Finals and a rock concert, with patrons in the stands doing the wave late in the fourth quarter, an unusual sight in this venue.
The league’s reigning (and soon-to-be-crowned-again) MVP drained 10-of-19 threes in a 46-point performance against the Grizzlies to become the league’s first guard since Michael Jordan to average 30 points while shooting better than 50 percent. This is 116 more than the previous record, which Curry set last season during the Warriors’ championship run.
Golden State finished shooting 52.9% as a team and 42.6% from three, wrapping their season, by and large, the way it pretty much went down.
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For all of those so-called experts who doubted the Warriors’ first championship in 40 years last June that didn’t go through San Antonio, this season might have changed their tune. A win here, and the Warriors will have bested the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls mark of 72-10 – a mark most figured wouldn’t come close to being beaten.
