In the three combined games Stephen Curry and Draymond Green have missed this season, the Golden State Warriors are 1-2. At 36-3 overall, they remain on track to catch the 1995 Chicago Bulls, who hold the best regular season record of all time at 72-10. While the Bulls lost their first, second, and third games of the 1995 season at an earlier time than the 2015 Warriors did, injuries have begun to change the course of the defending champions' season.
The goal of every NBA team's season is to win a championship and the defending champs have a fire in their belly to repeat. This team has been compared to the '95 Bulls all season and, while they may be in jeopardy of duplicating that feat, the Warriors' odds of winning The Finals look good. All three teams who previously started a season 36-3 went on to win The Finals. However, there is one road block that could prevent history from repeating itself.
On January 25, the Warriors will play their 45th game of the 2015-2016 season. They will need to win every game until then to keep pace with Jordan's Bulls, who lost their fourth game of the '95 season in their 45th game. Regardless of the fact that that game marked the start of the Bulls' only losing streak of the season (two games), there is a special significance to that game for the Warriors. On January 25, the San Antonio Spurs come to Oakland in a matchup between the last two NBA Champions at Oracle Arena.
It will be a game featuring the NBA's best home teams and, in fact, the only two teams who have yet to lose a game in their own arena this season. The Warriors are 18-0 at Oracle Arena and have a home win streak of 36 games dating back to last season. They will hope to improve that streak to 38 with wins over the Los Angeles Lakers in Kobe Bryant's final visit on Thursday and the Indiana Pacers three days prior to facing the Spurs.
While the Warriors have maintained their position atop the NBA standings throughout the season and are arguably the most improved team of the 2015-2016 season, the Spurs have quietly crept behind them and are an astounding two and a half games back of first place in the Western Conference. At 34-6, Gregg Popovich has constructed yet another great squad capable of winning the NBA Finals.
The offseason additions of LaMarcus Aldridge and David West have provided crucial depth to their lineup. Back in 2014, when the Spurs avenged a Finals loss to the Miami Heat, it was depth that was key to their success throughout the season. Popovich's ability to rest his starters, namely old heads in Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili, was the biggest factor that allowed the Spurs to have the best record in the NBA during the 2013-2014 regular season.
Now, Popovich is finding similar flexibility in his current Spurs' lineup. Although Aldridge has underperformed, the tenth-year power forward is second on the team averaging 16.2 points-per-game-a pretty drastic difference from last year's average of 23.4. Yet, the 30 year-old leads the Spurs in rebounding and it has been the team's defense that is most impressive.
Their league-leading 89.7 points allowed per-game is fewest in the NBA and Kawhi Leonard has made another strong campaign at Defensive Player of the Year. If he were to take home the award at the end of the season, he would become the first player to do so since Dwight Howard won three consecutive years from 2009 to 2011. Leonard also leads the Spurs in scoring, averaging 20.2 points-per-game. His emergence as a scorer has been equally as important to the Spurs' under-recognized success this season.
As for another 2015 award winner, Stephen Curry has been banged up by a lower leg injury that forced him to miss two games. The 2015 NBA MVP left a game against the Denver Nuggets several weeks ago after aggravating the injury. While Curry only scored five points in 14 minutes, it was another potential MVP candidate in Draymond Green who carried the load.
Green scored 29 points while notching his second of three consecutive triple-doubles as the Warriors barely survived the Nuggets, 111-108. However, with the tables turned and Green resting on the sideline for the night, Curry's 20-point fourth quarter was not enough to give the Warriors the win in Wednesday night's rematch against the Nuggets. Curry finished with 39 points and nine assists as the Warriors came up short by a score of 112-110.
As the Spurs continue to lurk in the shadows with rest on their side, the nicked-up Warriors appear to be following suit. When all is said and done, it may very well be a historic season that is sacrificed for a shot at back-to-back championships.
Greg Popovich is the only coach whose team is favored to beat the defending champs this year. But it is at the AT&T Center where the Spurs, who are an NBA-best 22-0 at home, are the favorites. All four regular season matchups between these two teams remain, with the first less than two weeks away.