this post was submitted on 25 Nov 2023
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I know it’s happened and this is probably the least interesting post ever but when I reflect on recent NBA history, it is still shocking to me what happened that year. I never thought it would be remotely possible. It was just a record that could never be touched.

And yet it really happened. I don’t think it gets enough credit because of the “it don’t mean a thing without the ring” piece but as time passes, I gotta say it’s just a standalone incredible achievement.

The fact that the last 30 games of the season they were the target for every team, no one wanted to see them do it, and they still did it. It’s incredibly impressive.

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[–] DefiniteSauce12@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (2 children)

This was after a championship too right? Absolutely insane

[–] rwoteit@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

I think 72-10 followed by 69-13 with the championship both times (and another one for good measure) for y'all isn't bad.

[–] Sartheking@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Yes, k think they were 78-4 at home over those two years.

[–] Poopscooper696969@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

It would have been more impressive if they won the ship

[–] ogqozo@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

It was amazing because they won so many close games to get there. A few of them seemed impossible and they still got the W. It made their every game a big event.

It's almost sad to me that sometimes you get these teams that it seems like nothing can stop them, but one playoff loss turns it into actually a bad memory in NBA culture. 2007 Mavs had a similar vibe. 2002 Kings felt close to that. Beside 2000 Lakers and 2013 Heat, those were maybe the most "they will will it to win... it just feels nothing can stop them" seasons I can remember.

[–] Alexander2801@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The team was also so deep that year. One of the things most people don't talk about is how much of that depth they had to sacrifice to sign KD in the offseason afterwards.

[–] ogqozo@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I wouldn't say they were deeper than many other good teams at all. They were such a big minus without Curry and Draymond on court, and only average with Curry but no Draymond. We've seen teams winning much more points with their depth. NBA stats say their bench net rating was just +2 per 100. And that's not really due to very deep depth, mostly due to Iguodala being bench technically and Iguodala+starters lineups being absolutely historically phenomenally strong.

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[–] Inevitable-Paint-650@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Probably the most insane thing that has happened in the NBA and it’s not even close

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[–] OneirionKnight@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (6 children)

I can't believe that the amount of time between now and 2016 is the same as 2016 and 2009

[–] Slight-Parsley-4474@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Damn pandemic time. I feel you

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[–] kaceytronwhiteknight@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

The time between now (2023) and LeBron getting drafted (2003) is greater than the time between LeBron getting drafted (2003) and Michael Jordan getting drafted (1984)

[–] NavalEnthusiast@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

2016 feels like AGES ago but I was in middle school and now I’m in the back half of being in college

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[–] jambr380@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (4 children)

What's crazy is all of the best seasons across all 4 major North American sports haven't resulted in a Title. You have the 2015-16 Warriors above, the 2007 [undefeated] Patriots, the 2022-23 Bruins, and the 1906 Cubs/2001 Mariners.

[–] bigbenis2021@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

I call it the Curse of the Record-setting Record.

[–] COTEReader@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Bruins was by far the biggest choke job.

[–] ospreyintokyo@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (2 children)
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[–] kaceytronwhiteknight@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (2 children)

The NFL has multiple 18-1 teams that won the title. The Patriots are the only 18-1 team that didn't. NFL also has the 17-0 dolphins,and other undefeated teams from before the sb era

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[–] Vicentesteb@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I feel like you burn yourself out so much trying to get every last win that by the playoffs everyone is just exhausted.

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[–] ahr3410@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Surely they won just 1 out of 3 to finish the job

[–] Charlie_Steve@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago
[–] TheMinnesotaWarrior@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Still can't believe the Wolves took a game from them off the back of a career game from Shabazz Muhammad

[–] chandler55@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

they almost lost to the 10 win 76ers too

[–] 2020IsANightmare@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

It really is crazy.

73-9 is insane. Denver pretty clearly came away as the best team in the league last season. Finished 10-1 vs KD, LeBron and then in the Finals. And they finished TWENTY GAMES behind that 73-9 GS team. For reference, Denver finishes 20 games ahead of the 33-49 Blazers team last season that were TRYING TO LOSE.

[–] Soham_Dame_Niners@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

That year got Luke Walton 2 jobs

[–] HEEMZAGIN@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (8 children)

and (some) people really try to spin in like the Warriors were not the favorites heading into 2017 if they didn't land KD.

They would have been massive favorites. They were already way better than the Cavs, I say this as a cavs fan. We needed LeBron and Kyrie to play the best basketball of their careers and Steph/Klay to underperform while also getting 1 win with Draymond suspended.

They had won 140 games in 2 seasons, and were 1 game away from having the most dominant 2 year stretch in NBA history, arguably NA professional sports history.

[–] on_dat_shyt@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

People trying to dismiss the 2015 ring because they were beat by the healthy cavs the next season never made sense. Took a historic performance by Kyrie and Lebron to even take them to 7

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[–] Naive_Illustrator@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (2 children)

A KD-less warriors 2017 & 2018 team is definitely better than their 2015 & 2016 version. They certainly would still be the favorites even without KD.

But the league was already on it's way to figuring them out. The only reason why the Cavs struggled mightily to beat them was because of Kevin Love, who could no longer defend and ate up a giant chunk of their cap.

The Rockets and Bucks were two teams constructed with multiple rangy switching defenders specifically to neutralize the chaos of Steph zipping around the court. It's like the warriors were 50% favorites to 30% favorites. Still the best odds but not overwhelming anymore.

The game is just moving really fast now. Because of shortened contracts, high influx of rookie talent and the fast pace shortening careers, rosters are turning over rapidly, and in ways that are able to adapt to the best teams. This is why even though the Warriors revolutionized the game, they could only hold on to their advantage for so long.

[–] Parenegade@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Lol the reason they couldn't "hold on to their advantage" is time. If Dray, Klay and Steph were all in their prime we'd be set.

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[–] kaceytronwhiteknight@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (2 children)

The Warriors were a much worse team by the end of that season than they were at the start. Currys injury completely derailed their trajectory. Hell they lost more games in those playoffs than they did in the whole regular season. Plus they should have lost to the Thunder, but the NBA are giant pussies and wouldn't suspend Draymond until he dared to touch LeBron.

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[–] jr_xo@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

They would've probably gone on a 2014 Spurs revenge tour type of run to win back what they were so close to winning

[–] resipsaloquitor5@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

I take your point, but I have an issue with calling a team "massive favourites" to win the finals if they lost the previous year and will have to get through the same team the next year. Maybe they were favourites, but I think massive favourites is a stretch.

I don't think you can isolate Lebron and Kyrie's over-performance, KD and Steph's underperformance, and Draymond's suspension. At the time, it would have been reasonable to suspect that those same dynamics might repeat themselves in the 2017 finals.

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[–] Sartheking@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (4 children)

The more crazy part is that they never lost back to back games the entire regular season.

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[–] Top_Frosting4290@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

If you can't believe this, then you won't believe that in the same season they choked hard and blew a 3-1 lead in the finals. Yep, feelz bad man..

[–] SeirezZ@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (2 children)

It's such an amazing feat no matter how the season ended for them.

I remember the 2020 Bucks being like 54-8 at one point and that is nothing compared to GSW

[–] eclaircissement@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

I think that all of the players would trade the win record for the championship, but I don't know if I agree. The 2016 Warriors were appointment viewing. Every single game was like a playoff game. Draymond was 2nd team All-NBA and 7th in MVP voting. Curry was (deservedly) being compared to Michael Jordan, and placed 4th in MIP voting after winning MVP the previous season.

We'll never see anything like it again.

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[–] jaycmc@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

But didn’t win the title so the bulls are still the best regular season team of all time. Sorry but not sorry

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[–] swaaaggy_b@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Mind you Steph was DNP for most 4th quarters that season

[–] dino_nuggys7@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

What's crazier is that the Spurs went 67-15.

That was an all-time team too

[–] BillyBean11111@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

That was a crazy season, we were 44-4 and the fucking Spurs were 2 1/2 games back.

[–] zedsbundy@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

I think more impressive is they were 24-0 without Steve Kerr, and Luke Walton as their head coach. After that, it was 49-9 which is still amazing but not as impressive for a team that went 24-0.

[–] donta5k0kay@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

even more crazy is lebron and kyrie beating them

and a less mentioned factoid is DRAYMOND GREEN scored more points than Steph and Klay combined in game 7

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[–] jr_xo@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

The GSW vs OKC game where Curry hit 12 3s was the best regular season game I have ever seen

[–] TheAirIsOn@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

I can’t believe they win 73 games and didn’t win the championship that year. Granted they were close

[–] Excellent-Car-6543@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

73 games but no title.

[–] topshinobi@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago
[–] mojo-jojo-was-framed@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

They were so so good. Once they made the a goal and started going for it there wasn’t any way they weren’t going to get it if they stayed healthy

[–] WORTHLESS1321202019@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

It's scripted.

[–] Artimusjones88@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Meaningless, but impressive.

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