Tuesday NBA Roundup: How Long Can Record-Setting Warriors Keep Streak Alive?

The Golden State Warriors don't just break molds; they remake them in their own image.

The same player can't be both the best shooter and best ball-handler in the NBA? Behold, Stephen Curry.

A small-ball lineup can score a ton of points but can't stop a traditional opponent from doing the same? Tell that to Golden State's fiercest fivesome and its 71.1 net rating. 

A team can't win a championship by shooting jump shots and playing at a breakneck pace? The Warriors would beg to differ.

For their latest trick, the Bay Area's finest hoops magicians made a record that's stood for nearly 70 years disappear. With their 111-77 dismantling of the lackluster Los Angeles Lakers, the Warriors did the 1948-49 Washington Capitols and 1993-94 Houston Rockets one better to become the first team in league history to open a season with a 16-0 start.

Curry didn't explode in his usual way, but his 24 points and nine assists were (clearly) more than sufficient. Golden State's lethal small-ball lineup did its part to build what became a 21-point lead in the second quarter—a lead that would reach 41 points in the fourth. 

To be sure, the Lakers group that Golden State pulled apart—and dropped to a worst-in-the-West 2-12—wasn't exactly held together by Gorilla Glue. Kobe Bryant's fare-not-so-well tour hit a new low Tuesday, with the Mamba making a single shot out of 14 in 25 minutes. Three Lakers (Julius Randle, Lou Williams, Larry Nance Jr.) tied for the Purple and Gold lead in scoring at 10 points apiece.

And, well, this happened to Jordan Clarkson, courtesy of none other than Curry:

It's entirely possible that Golden State will suffer a slip-up of its own in the near future. Eight of its next nine games are on the road, five against teams currently in the playoff picture. Despite what this latest blowout would suggest, the Dubs are vulnerable, as they were in recent games against the Toronto Raptors, Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Clippers.

At some point, the Warriors are bound to have an off shooting night. That's no dice for a squad that leans more heavily on the arc for points than any in basketball.

Then again, what makes Golden State so good—and, so far, impervious to imperfection—is that it defends the perimeter as well as (if not better than) it uses that space for its own devices. As 538's Kirk Goldsberry discussed prior to the Warriors' record-setting night:

"

As of today, they are the only team averaging at least 12 threes per game on offense; they are also the only team giving up fewer than six threes per game on defense. Remember when a team won games by controlling the paint? These Warriors win by controlling the edges of the scoring area. By scoring 37.5 points per game beyond the arc while allowing opponents just 17.7 from out there, Golden State isn’t just tweaking how we value court real estate, its best players are forcing us to rethink how we value personnel as well.

"

Just as the league's best team, as a whole, is changing what it means to defend a title. There could be a letdown on the horizon—a long exhale now that these Warriors stand alone in NBA history.

But there are more all-time marks for Golden State to own, if it so chooses.

The Warriors are already more than halfway toward equaling the longest winning streak in major American pro sports, courtesy of four straight victories to end 2014-15. That bar was set more than four decades ago, by a Lakers club far better than the latest iteration, led by current Golden State executive Jerry West and former Warriors legend Wilt Chamberlain, that won 33 straight on the way to a title. 

If that fails, there's the Holy Grail of regular-season accomplishments for Golden State to pursue: a spot in the exclusive 70-Win Club. Currently, Michael Jordan's 1995-96 Chicago Bulls, with their 72-10 record, are the only ones with unfettered access.

And if that fails...well, there's always the biggest, most important and most challenging objective of all: a successful title defense.

But if the first month of the season is any indication, the Warriors could make that mold obsolete, too.

PG-13 Raises His Rating

Alex Brandon/Associated Press

It's official: Paul George has entered a new plane of basketball brilliance in his roller-coaster career. The All-Star forward piled up 40 points—his second such game as a pro—on 14-of-19 shooting, including 7-of-8 from three, to propel the Indiana Pacers to a 123-106 road win over the Washington Wizards.

George wasn't the only Pacer who caught fire in the nation's capital. C.J. Miles scored 32 points with eight threes of his own, prompting PG-13 to (jokingly) compare Indiana's dynamic duo to the NBA's best backcourt in a postgame TV interview (via ESPN.com's J.A. Adande):

Miles might not fit the description, but on this night, they certainly fit the bill, as the Elias Sports Bureau highlighted (via NBA on ESPN):

At the very least, George wouldn't be out of place next to Curry and Thompson. His latest explosion extended his streak of 20-plus-point outings to a personal-best 10 games.

Also among George's personal bests this season? His averages in points (25.9), rebounds (8.4), assists (4.8) and three-point percentage (45.7 percent).

In short, George has picked up right where he left off before his career was sidetracked by a gruesome leg injury. Along the way, he's lifted the Pacers back into the playoff picture, by way of nine wins in their last 11 outings.

Grizzlies Grind Up the Standings

Brandon Dill/Associated Press

Remember when the sky was falling in the River City? Remember when Memphis Grizzlies head coach Dave Joerger was lamenting how old his players looked amid a sluggish 3-6 start?

Well, it looks like the Grit 'N' Grind is back. The Grizzlies have now won five of their last six games, including a 110-96 smackdown of the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday.

Memphis had to swap out one fogie for another, with the 35-year-old Matt Barnes subbing in for the 34-year-old Zach Randolph. Barnes came up big, to the tune of 14 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals. He was one of seven Grizzlies to score in double figures.

Per usual, though, the Grizzlies really got it done on the defensive end. They turned 19 Dallas turnovers into 21 points, limited the Mavericks to 39 percent shooting and held their third straight opponent under 100 points.

And, as always, Tony Allen was in the middle of it all, though not in the usual way. In the fourth quarter, with a double-digit deficit to make up, the Mavs resorted to hacking Allen. 

All the Grindfather did was knock down six of eight attempts, right in line with his career mark of 72.2 percent. It's no wonder, then, that Joerger wasn't worried, per Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal:

Now that his Grizzlies are sitting fifth in the West at 8-7, Joerger has reason to believe in all of his guys.

Hawks Beat Celtics at Their Own Game

Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports

Balance has been the name of the game for the Boston Celtics this season. They came into Tuesday's game against the Atlanta Hawks with six players averaging at least nine points per game and nine topping six a night.

Two can play that game, and Atlanta certainly did during its 121-97 shellacking of Boston. Paul Millsap (25 points, nine rebounds) and Jeff Teague (16 points, nine assists) led seven Hawks in double figures, compared to four for the C's. As a team, Atlanta torched its guests with 56.3 percent shooting (12-of-24 from three) while torturing them on defense, to the tune of 41.5 percent shooting—on the night the team retired Dikembe Mutombo's No. 55 jersey, no less.

The split became a chasm in the fourth quarter, when the Hawks nearly doubled up on the Celtics in scoring (40-24) and shooting percentage (68.2 percent vs. 37.5 percent). 

Efforts like this are nothing new for these Hawks. Last season, they sent four guys to the All-Star Game and a fifth (DeMarre Carroll) on his way to a $58 million deal with the Toronto Raptors. This time around, they have six guys averaging 10 points or more, topping out at Millsap's 18.3 points points per game.

That balance has the Hawks hovering toward the top of the East again, at 10-6, with a chance to truly take off once Kent Bazemore and Tiago Splitter return from their respective injuries.

Griffin, Clippers Find Themselves in Thin Air

David Zalubowski/Associated Press

In many ways, it was just another night for the Los Angeles Clippers. 

Blake Griffin (18 points, 10 rebounds) and Chris Paul (15 points, 10 assists) both wound up with double-doubles. J.J. Redick fired away from deep. Jamal Crawford led the bench in scoring. DeAndre Jordan (12-of-25 on free throws) got hacked repeatedly.

And the Clippers, high-flying and all, downed the Denver Nuggets, 111-94. Nothing to see here aside from the all-black alternate jerseys...right?

Wrong. For one, Griffin lent new meaning to Lob City with this three-pointer in the third quarter captured by gifdsports:

For a Clippers squad that had lost five of its last six games and seven of nine, that shot and the victory to which it contributed were both sights for Doc Rivers' sore eyes.

Bulls End Drought in Rose City

Jaime Valdez-USA TODAY Sports

The Chicago Bulls needed all they could squeeze out of Derrick Rose to earn their first road win over the Portland Trail Blazers since 2007.

In his return from an ankle injury that kept him out of two games, Rose poured in 17 points and six assists in 35 minutes to help the Bulls fend off the scrappy Blazers, 93-88.

Rose, though, had plenty of his own help. Jimmy Butler, his backcourt better-half, registered game highs in points (22) and steals (four). Pau Gasol notched his sixth double-double of the season. Nikola Mirotic finished with a trio of treys.

Still, for a Chicago squad in transition, Rose's productive night—like all of those he's had since suffering his first major knee injury in 2012—meant the most. All the other major parts are, more or less, reliable and can put the Bulls on the Eastern Conference map.

But if Chicago is going to make a deep playoff run during Fred Hoiberg's debut season, it'll need a healthy Rose to be a consistent presence on the court.

Stats via NBA.com unless otherwise noted.

Josh Martin covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter.

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