The Weekly Dish

It’s been 131 years since we've seen something like the Warriors' record-setting start to the season.

For the week of Monday, Nov. 30 – Sunday, Dec. 6

It’s been 131 years since we’ve seen something akin to the Warriors’ blistering start to the season. Back in 1884, baseball's St. Louis Maroons opened their season with a 20-0 record, the last team in the four major North American team sports to begin a season with a longer winning streak than this year’s Warriors (18-0). That was before Major League Baseball - as we know it today - was even in existence, and some names and statistics provide a little further context as to exactly how long it’s been since we’ve seen this sort of dominance. That Maroons team was led by second baseman Fred “Sure Shot” Dunlap, who led the Union Association in just about every offensive category, including home runs (13). On the pitching side, the Maroons were led by right-hander Charlie Sweeney, who famously quit the Providence Grays midseason to join St. Louis, well after their historic 20-0 run. Sweeney's departure left Old Hoss Radbourn as the only remaining pitcher for Providence, who responded by winning an MLB-record 59 games. For reference, only one pitcher (Denny McLain, 31) has totaled even half that many wins in a single season since the Great Depression. 1884 also happens to be the same year that Moses “Fleet” Walker became the first African American to play in the major leagues as a member of the Toledo Blue Stockings of the American Association.

So – and for fear of turning this into a baseball history lesson - it’s safe to say that it’s been quite some time since we’ve seen a team replicate the kind of streak the Warriors have been on to open the 2015-16 season. With three more victories over the Lakers, Suns and Kings last week, the Warriors met and eclipsed NBA history, and show no signs of slowing down. They’ve won each of their last four games by an average of 21.3 points, which has allowed Stephen Curry to sit the entire fourth quarter in each and every one of those victories. They lead the NBA in offensive rating and rank fifth in defensive rating, although both statistics have actually been adversely affected by the fact that they’ve won 13 of their 18 games by double digits. The Warriors are simply blowing their opponents away in the first half, where they’re outscoring their opponent by 19.6 points per 100 possessions, which is more than double the Net Rating of all but one other team in the league (San Antonio, 13.8). And, due to their frequent double-digit leads as a result of their first half dominance, some regression is inherently expected in the second half, particularly with the starters playing fewer minutes. However, the Warriors still have the best fourth quarter Net Rating of any team in the league (14.3), all while players like Curry, Draymond Green and others getting heavy minutes receive some very valuable rest on the bench. The Dubs have played more games than all but one other team in the NBA so far this season, and the fact that they’ve been able to get their main contributors some much-needed rest while simultaneously compiling this historic accomplishment provides some affirmative support as to the question of whether or not their current level of play is sustainable. In fact, it’s quite possible we still may not have seen their best yet.

Stephen Curry averaged 28.0 points in 30.2 minutes and was an NBA-best plus-82 in the Warriors’ three victories last week. Leandro Barbosa and Brandon Rush both came off the bench to play key roles in the wins over the Suns and Kings, respectively, and yet none of those players managed to accomplish something no other Warriors player had done in over 50 years. The one who did would be Draymond Green, who became the first Warriors player since Wilt Chamberlain in 1964 to post triple-doubles in consecutive games. Green, who was a plus-80 on the week, averaged 15.0 points, 9.3 rebounds and 9.0 assists while shooting 53.6 percent from the field over the last three games, and is now on pace to become the first player in NBA history to average at least 12.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, 7.0 assists and 1.6 three-pointers per game over the course of a full season. You could swap out his 1.6 treys for his 1.5 blocks per game, and he’d also be the first player in league history to average those numbers. It’s not that there’s nobody else like him on the Warriors. Much like Curry, the argument could certainly be made that there’s never really been a player quite like him in the history of the sport.

If 18-0 isn’t impressive enough, the Dubs will have a chance to build up their resume even more this week with the first four games of a 13-day, seven-game road trip that will zig-zag them across three different time zones and two countries. First up is a matchup in Utah against the young Jazz tonight, in what will surely be a tough environment, even before considering the altitude. Following their trip to Salt Lake City, the Dubs then head to Charlotte to do battle with the Hornets on Wednesday, before enduring their sixth back-to-back already this season with games in Toronto and Brooklyn over the weekend. The Warriors (8-0) are off to their best road start in franchise history, and should they prevail in each of their four road games this week, they would tie the 1969-70 New York Knicks for the best road start in the history of the NBA. It’s been a record-setting season thus far for the Warriors, and if they play up to their full capabilities, there’s no reason to believe that theme can’t continue at least another week.

Till next week.

The Dish has been served.