WASHINGTON — It’s entirely understandable if you’re exhausted from the hyperbole that surrounds, say, each win and loss in the NFL season. The ratio of talking about sports to actually playing them has titled out of balance over the past few years, and not every debate should be embraced. But, to paraphrase Scott Van Pelt from SportsCenter the other night, it’s virtually impossible to overstate just how amazing Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors have been this season.
As an entertainment product, they are the best thing sports has to offer right now, a powder keg of points ready to explode into a shower of three pointers and lob slams at any moment.
As a team, they are perfect. Twenty-three contests into an 82-game slate, they are undefeated. They are a squad never out of a game, no matter the deficit, even trailing their rivals by 23 on the road.
Twenty-three games in, Golden State’s streak is now the longest to begin a season in any major American professional sport, eclipsing both recent streaks, like the 2007 New England Patriots (18), and ancient ones, like the 1884 St. Louis Maroons (20).
Technically, the streak stretches to 27 games, going back to last year. That means it has already eclipsed the longest overall winning streaks in NHL (17), NFL (21) and MLB (26) history, and is closing in on the 33-gamer the Los Angeles Lakers put together back in 1971-72.
The streak is even more impressive considering the Warriors are coming off a championship year last season, a time when teams often suffer an emotional letdown, or struggle as teams adjust to their success.
But the most effective adjustments made this offseason appear to have been the ones the Warriors have made to fine-tune their machine of destruction. The five-man small ball crew that was used to great effect in the postseason (affectionately known as the Small Ball Death Squad, with 6-foot-7 Draymond Green at center) is now being used to close out games with frightening effect.
Entering Wednesday night’s games, Curry had made 247 baskets. Only one other player had surpassed the 200 mark — Blake Griffin, at 204. Curry had dropped 119 three-pointers. Paul George was second in the league — with 69. Curry broke his own NBA record for three-pointers of 272, sinking 286 last year. He’s on pace for 424. There have been whispers of moving the three-point line back, as some sort of countermeasure to Curry gaming the system. There’s just one problem with that — nobody is better at hitting the deep three, the one a full step beyond the arc, as Curry. How far back would the league have to move the line?
Here?
Here?
Here?
HERE?
It’s reminiscent of when the PGA Tour started trying to “Tiger-proof” their courses by making them longer, only playing into Woods’ strengths. The greatest single-season Player Efficiency Rating (PER) in the history of the NBA belongs to the legendary Wilt Chamberlain, who posted a 31.82 in 1962-63. LeBron James’ career best mark was 31.67 in 2008-09. Michael Jordan’s peak was 31.63 in 1990-91. Past the quarter pole of the season, Curry’s PER sits at 34.7. His movement on the floor is so fluid and graceful it’s making professional dancers blush. A Vine of his daughter Riley, who became a viral sensation during last year’s playoffs, posted on his wife Ayesha’s Instagram account has over 427,000 likes.
This is 3!!! Happy birthday baby girl! Never a dull moment. You light up our lives and keep us on our toes. Mommy and daddy love you so much. Let’s celebrate! A video posted by Ayesha Curry (@ayeshacurry) on
People are now paying absurd sums for tickets to games and cutting work to show up hours before the games, when the doors to the arena opens, just to watch him warm up. To watch him dribble with two balls. To watch him heave, and often sink, a shot from the tunnel on the way into the locker room.
Writers are showing up to write stories about these people, watching Curry.
Playing in Charlotte last week, Curry took the floor in front of his father, former NBA star Dell Curry, now a broadcaster for the Hornets. Dell was honored at halftime, with Golden State holding a nine-point advantage as it looked to run its record to 20-0. After the ceremony, Steph came out of the locker room ablaze, single-handedly outscoring the entire Charlotte team 21-8 over a stretch of his 28-point third quarter. The younger Curry finished with 40, and stole the spotlight from his dad in a 116-99 win.
But Curry’s winning magic doesn’t seem to be confined to what he accomplishes with Golden State. The night before, he took in a game played by his alma mater, Davidson, as they visited Charlotte. With Curry in the house, the Wildcats shattered their season high by 19 points, thumping the 49ers 109-74. Jack Gibbs, Davidson’s star guard, poured in a career-high 41 points on a Curry-esque 14-of-17 shooting, including six three-pointers.
Curry is also an outspoken fan of the Carolina Panthers, the team he grew up cheering for. Curry attended the Panthers’ home opener this year, hitting the team’s “Keep Pounding” drum on the field as part of the pregame ceremonies. Carolina is also still undefeated, with Cam Newton the front-runner for NFL MVP.
Still Perfect. #KeepPounding pic.twitter.com/RCqptZoVSp
— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) December 9, 2015
Now, he’s trying to save California.
Sure, it might be an El Nino year, conducive to more rain falling on the West Coast and potentially alleviating some measure of the drought that has devastated the Golden State the past few years. But if so, you can be sure Curry and his fellow “splash brother,” Klay Thompson, will be given some of the credit.
Yes, it’s corny. But you better believe if the rains come heavy this winter to the west, Curry will get some credit among Golden State fans, no matter how absurd the connection.
It’s because everything he touches has turned to gold the past year. Of course it all will end, eventually, as everything does. He won’t always be the best player in basketball. His team won’t always win every game.
But that’s why it’s worth appreciating this — the streak, this display of excellence — while it exists, because none of us have ever seen anything like it. And every night that it stretches further into the unknown, poking at the boundaries of what is possible, is another night we get to witness history as it’s made, to watch the sport reinvented in front of our eyes.
