Golden State Warriors Open the Season 18-0, Looks Unbeatable

The Golden State Warriors point guard says there are plenty of similarities between himself and the Argentinian. Stephen Curry held his follow-through after breaking the league’s 3-point record before halftime as he finished 7 for 9 from long distance, including a 4-point play. Their 22 in the game was one short of the league record. The Golden State Warriors are averaging 115.8 points on 49.1 percent shooting and allowing 99.8 points on 42.5 percent shooting. One of those threes was this handsome four-point play that gave the Dubs a 32-14 lead.

“A lot of that is based on our ball movement”, Curry said. “Swinging from side to side and finding the open guy”.

Calling it merely an edge might be underselling it. The Warriors are 100-20 since the start of last season including the postseason, and no other team has yet reached 80 in that time. “This one, was a little bit different because we clawed our way back”. “I definitely feel like I’m a better player than I was last year, more efficient”, he added, “We, as a team, are definitely better than we were last year, so we’re just trying to manage that for 66 more games and the rest of that will take care of itself”.

“They move the ball”. The big question now is how many more games he might miss. Curry nailed five 3-pointers. His two treys Friday came at the right corner, where Phoenix often asks Tucker to spot up within the offense. He was able to pull more points in the fourth quarter and improved the team standings with 18-0.

That frustration was a nightlong theme, as the Lakers were outscored in the first quarter, 30-11, while missing 16 of their 21 shots. The last Warriors player to record triple-doubles in consecutive games had been Hall of Fame center Wilt Chamberlain in 1964. The only blemish the Warriors had was missing nine free throws. Obviously the Williams deal was a huge bust – they already had their point guard in Curry – but it’s hard to blame them with Curry’s ankle issues early on.

In Orlando, Elfrid Payton had 22 points and 10 assists.

Brandon Knight and Eric Bledsoe added 21 points apiece for Phoenix.

Markieff Morris had a golden opportunity to cut the deficit to single digits, but his layup off a steal by Jon Leuer was blocked by Andrew Bogut. Those three plays by Bogut ignited a 25-10 run that put the Warriors up 26 with 1:11 left in the quarter.

Curry wasn’t the only player in the Golden State uniform to enjoy a successful night of play though, as Draymond Green and Leandro Barbosa also notched big games.

Curry has scored 555 points on just 358 field goal attempts in 587 minutes this season.

James Harden scored 50 points for the third time in his career to inspire the Houston Rockets to a 116-114 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers, who have now lost a record 27 games in a row dating back to last season. It was a standard draft for the Warriors, as they had one pick in the first round and another in the second. Speaking to ESPN.com’s Dave McMenamin, James said Golden State is “the most healthy team I’ve ever seen in National Basketball Association history”. I believe it’s so true that playing selfish is contagious and playing selfless is contagious. I know the process: “You want to just stay in the moment as best as you can, and that’s how you stay focused, that’s how you stay within yourself, and we’ve done a great job of that so far”. Golden State had a 75-57 lead at the break after matching its highest-scoring half in a so-far flawless season.