The Warriors may not have gotten the gift they most desired on Christmas Day, but they still have plenty to be thankful for this holiday season.
For the week of Monday, Dec. 26 – Sunday, Jan. 1
Record: 3-1
The Warriors may not have gotten the gift they most desired on Christmas Day, but they still have plenty to be thankful for this holiday season.
At 27-5, Golden State sits atop the league standings, and possesses an identical record after 32 games as they did during the 2014-15 campaign, in which they eventually went on to win the NBA championship. They’ve outscored their opponents by a total of 413 points; that’s 147 more points than the next highest total in the league, and 28 more points than their differential through 32 games a season ago.
They possess the second-best offensive and defensive ratings in the NBA, while ranking first in the league in net rating, outscoring opponents by 12.3 points per 100 possessions. For reference, Golden State had posted net ratings of +11.6 and +11.4 in each of the last two seasons, and if the season were to end today, their +12.3 net rating would qualify as the second-best in the history of the league, behind only the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls.
Their offensive firepower is nearly unparalleled, but it’s on the defensive end where they’ve made the most strides. Over their last 18 games – so, more than half the season thus far – they’ve been the most efficient defensive team in the league, and their 98.6 defensive rating over that span is just 0.4 points per 100 possessions shy of the league-leading defensive rating they produced on their way to the championship in ’14-’15.
They’re rounding into form, which is saying something, considering the rather lofty state from which they began at the start of this season. Golden State will continue to have a target on their backs, getting their opponents’ best effort on a nightly basis for the foreseeable future. It’s a daunting plight, but one that comes with the territory of having made two-straight NBA Finals, with eyes towards securing a third. Lucky for them, they’re about to embark on a favorable segment of the schedule, which won’t see them leave Northern California again until January 19th.
Standout Spotlight: Kevin Durant
With apologies to Klay Thompson, who posted the best plus-minus of any player in the league last week, Kevin Durant was simply too good to pass up. For the week, Durant ranked first on the team with an average of 29.0 points and 9.3 rebounds in just 32.0 minutes per game, while posting a 2.8:1 assist-to-turnover ratio. He’s now up to 26.2 points per game on the season, the eight-highest scoring average in the league, and along with Stephen Curry (24.1) and Thompson (21.4), forms the highest scoring trio in the entire Association. Of the top 42 scorers in the NBA, nobody possesses a higher shooting percentage than Durant’s 53.8 clip from the field, which would qualify as far and away the best shooting percentage of his highly-efficient and decorated career.
Only Russell Westbrook, Anthony Davis, DeMarcus Cousins, James Harden, Damian Lillard and DeMar DeRozan have more 30-point games than Durant’s nine, while only Westbrook, Davis and Cousins have combined their 30-point efforts with at least 10 rebounds on more occasions than Durant’s four. He’s failed to top the 20-point mark just twice in his last 18 games, and has recorded at least one block in all but four of those contests. He’s clearly proven to be the dynamic two-way weapon the Warriors were hoping he’d be when signing him as a free agent this past summer, and as he continues to get more and more familiar with his new system and teammates, it wouldn’t come as a surprise to see him improve on his already-gaudy statistics even further.
The Week Ahead:
Golden State will have a couple days to get over any sort of holiday hangover with only two games on deck in the week ahead. The Warriors will tip off a five-game homestand and look to extend their NBA-record streak of regular season games without consecutive losses to 120 games when they return home to host the visiting Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night. As potent as the Dubs have been offensively, the Raptors are the only team in the league that possesses a better offensive rating than the Warriors, so Wednesday’s game will pit the two best offensive teams in the Association against one another for the second and final time this regular season. Following the bout with the Raptors, Golden State will finish off the week with a matchup against the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night. It’s the final two Warriors’ games of 2016, and Golden State would love nothing better than to start the New Year off on a winning streak.