Warriors vs. Nuggets: Score and Reaction from 2015-16 Regular Season
The Golden State Warriors are one win away from basketball immortality.
Led by Klay Thompson's 21 points, one of five players in double figures, the Warriors became the third team in NBA history to start a season 15-0 after a 118-105 win over the Denver Nuggets in the Pepsi Center on Sunday night.
The 2015-16 Warriors joined the 1948-49 Washington Capitols and the 1993-94 Houston Rockets as the only teams to hit the 15-0 mark. On Friday, Golden State became the first team since the 2002-03 Dallas Mavericks to start 14-0.
No team in NBA history has ever won its first 16 games to start the season, but the Warriors now find themselves in position to do just that. The defending NBA champions will return to Oracle Arena on Tuesday for a matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Warriors' official Twitter account shared this after the win in Denver:
The Warriors' talent and depth were on full display early. Golden State jumped out to a 34-23 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Warriors took a six-point cushion into halftime and a 12-point lead into the final frame.
Golden State made 15 three-pointers and shot 52.8 percent from the floor.
The Nuggets did take the lead with 2:18 remaining in the first half on a Will Barton basket, but on the ensuing possession, Thompson made one of his four three-pointers and the Warriors did not trail the rest of the way after that. Thompson took over the game late in the first half, scoring 11 of Golden State's final 14 points in the last 2:08.
Despite coming up short, the Nuggets had six players score in double figures, led by Darrell Arthur's team-high 21 points to go along with eight rebounds. Rookie point guard Emmanuel Mudiay had 17 points and eight assists but shot 6-of-21 from the floor.
Stephen Curry contributed with 19 points, and Harrison Barnes chipped in with 17 points and four assists in the historic win. Barnes scored seven of those points in the third quarter, which gave the Warriors enough of a cushion to pull away.
Curry continued his hot-shooting start, making eight of 16 shots, including 3-of-8 from three-point range. His long-range sniping continues to amaze, as he is shooting better than a couple of teams combined, per NBA on ESPN:
The most impressive aspect of Golden State's start is that the team has accomplished it under interim head coach Luke Walton. It makes people wonder if anyone off the street could coach the Warriors to 15 straight wins, as former Grantland writer Shea Serrano tweeted:
En route to their accomplishment, the Warriors have dominated. Ten of their 15 wins have come by double digits, including Sunday's victory over the Nuggets.
The Warriors' run could go further than Tuesday against the Lakers. ESPN Stats & Info says the Warriors are Basketball Power Index favorites in 65 of their final 67 games, with the two predicted losses coming on the road against the San Antonio Spurs.
It's a long shot that Golden State will finish the year 80-2, but ESPN Stats & Info also shows it's on the same pace as the 1996 Chicago Bulls and their win total:
Golden State continues to show it's by far the best team in the NBA. On Tuesday, the Warriors will have a chance to do something no team has ever done and will be facing a Lakers team that is on a much different path, as noted by ESPN.com's Baxter Holmes:
If the Warriors can get past that, they'd be almost halfway to the longest winning streak in NBA history at 33 games, set by the Lakers in 1971-72. It wouldn't be that outlandish to start thinking that would be a possibility, too.
Postgame Reaction
Don't tell the Warriors they'll lose anytime soon.
As far as they and their MVP are concerned, a loss isn't in their near future.
"It's kind of a quiet confidence that we don't feel like we're going to lose anytime soon," Curry said, per the Associated Press (via ESPN.com). "The way we're playing...we can get even better."
That's a scary thought.
But the Warriors understand that history is meant to be challenged. Much like the history they made last year while steamrolling through the playoffs and snapping their 40-year championship drought.
"It's a goal that's right here and now, and that's something that we want to experience," Curry told USA Today's Sam Amick of the record after Friday's win over Chicago. "It would be a huge accomplishment, because obviously doing something that hasn't been done in the history of the league is special, but you never know if this opportunity will come back again.
Curry's right. This opportunity doesn't come every season. That's why it's been 13 years since a team has come close to reaching 15-0. When the Mavericks reached 14-0 back in 2002, the schedule gods were not kind. Dallas had to face a tough Indiana Pacers squad on the second night of a back-to-back, in Indiana on Thanksgiving night, to get its 15th win. The Pacers won 110-98.
If that situation played out any differently, the Mavericks of that year could've started as well as 20-0. This Warriors team is good enough to get beyond 20-0.
"They're the best team in the world. It's a difficult task," said Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, per the Associated Press (via ESPN.com). "In some parts of the game we could defend them and in other parts no. I mean they just need three, four minutes, and they're up by 15, so we need to play defense all the time."
If the Warriors can get through the Lakers on Tuesday, they will have a chance to go to 18-0 with a back-to-back against the Phoenix Suns and Sacramento Kings. After that begins a seven-game road trip featuring six teams from the Eastern Conference. They won't return to Oakland until Dec. 16. The streak could very much end within that span.
But Golden State is also too good to think it'll end in the next few contests.
