Top Warriors Moments of 2016

As we turn the page to 2017, it only makes sense to celebrate the top Warriors moments of 2016. The only question is this: what are the top Warriors moments of 2016? That’s where you come in, Dub Nation. The Dubs’ digital team has identified some of the top moments from 2016, and we’re putting it your hands to decide the best of the best.

Select your favorite Warriors moment in each of the four Facebook polls, and because we all love a tournament, we’ll pit the winner of each poll against one another in one final poll that will determine the greatest Warriors moment of 2016. Relive the plays, games and achievements that made 2016 the unforgettable year it was, and make your picks for the Dubs’ moment of the year.

*12/30 Update: Finalists

Here are the four finalists for 2016 Warriors Moment of the Year as voted on by you, the fans:

Tie game. Overtime. 7.0 seconds left. Festus Ezeli tips a defensive rebound to Andre Iguodala, who turns and passes to Stephen Curry at the top of the 3-point arc. Dribble. Dribble. Dribble. Shot?!?! The eventual unanimous MVP puts his legendary range on display, splashing home a 37-footer with 0.6 left on the clock, sealing the victory for Golden State.

Kevin Durant provided the ground-shaking moment of the NBA offseason when he announced he was signing with the Warriors as a free agent back in July. The former MVP and four-time scoring leader was introduced at a press conference in front of a packed crowd at the Warriors’ front office headquarters on July 7, at the close of which he summarized, “[I'm] just excited to be a part of this organization and play with these great players and play in front of these unbelievable fans and try to do the best I can as a player to help win games.”

In a 142-106 victory over the Pacers on December 5th, Klay Thompson produced the greatest offensive display the Warriors’ franchise had seen in more than four decades. Thompson scored 60 points on 21-of-33 shooting from the field, 8-of-14 from three-point land and 10-of-11 from the free throw line, all in just 29 minutes of play. In doing so, Thompson became the first player in NBA history to score 60-or-more points in fewer than 30 minutes of playing time. Crazy stat: Thompson only touched the ball 52 times for a total of 88.4 seconds in the victory. All the more impressive, Thompson took a total of 11 dribbles – in the entire game!

With a 125-104 win over the Grizzlies in the final game of the 2015-16 regular season, the Warriors improved to 73-9, eclipsing the mark set by the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls (72) to establish a new NBA record for single season wins. It was also their 39th home victory of the season, matching the franchise-record for single season home wins set in 2014-15.

Tie game. Overtime. 7.0 seconds left. Festus Ezeli tips a defensive rebound to Andre Iguodala, who turns and passes to Stephen Curry at the top of the 3-point arc. Dribble. Dribble. Dribble. Shot?!?! The eventual unanimous MVP puts his legendary range on display, splashing home a 37-footer with 0.6 left on the clock, sealing the victory for Golden State.

Coming off a defeat in Game 3 in Portland, Golden State did not want to go home facing a tied series, and Stephen Curry came through when his team needed him most. Playing for the first time since he was injured in Game 4 of the first round series against Houston, Curry scored an NBA-record 17 points in overtime, finishing with 40 as the Warriors rallied to take a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference semifinals.

Prior to last season, no player in the history of the NBA had ever made more than 286 three-pointers in a single season. Already owning the two highest single-season three-point totals in NBA history at the start of last season, Curry put the exclamation point on the most prolific shooting season known to mankind in the final regular season game of the 2015-16 campaign, splashing home his 400th trey of the year in the opening minute of the second half. He’d go on to make two more threes in the rest of the game, finishing with 402 on the season.

Three days after seeing his NBA-record streak of 157-straight games with at least one three-pointer come to an end, Curry made up for his off night by pouring in an NBA-record 13 three-pointers in the Warriors’ 116-106 home victory over the Pelicans on November 7th. Curry’s shooting performance was both historic and efficient, as the record-setting splash came on his 19th and final attempt from beyond the arc in the game.

When you do something that’s never been done in the NBA before, you know you’ve done something remarkable. When you do something that no other MVP in the history of the league has done, you’re taking it to a whole different level. That’s exactly what Stephen Curry did in becoming the first-ever unanimous MVP in the history of the NBA last season. The 11th player to win back-to-back MVP awards in the NBA's 70-season existence, Curry became the first player in league history at any position to average 30 ‎points per game in less than 35 minutes per game, made an NBA-record 402 three-pointers, and joined Steve Nash and his coach, Steve Kerr, as the only players in league history to shoot at least 50 percent from the floor, 45 percent from three-point range and 90 percent from the line in a season.

Runner-up for Defensive Player of the Year in each of the last two seasons, Draymond Green has gotten off to a stellar start on the defensive end this year, and provided perhaps his best individual sequence yet in helping the Warriors secure a 105-100 win over the Hawks on November 29th. Green blocked the shots of both Dennis Schroeder and Kent Bazemore in a span of 28 seconds in the final minute to clinch the victory, totaling four blocks in the contest.

Draymond Green isn’t just the Warriors’ ‘heartbeat’; he’s a do-it-all forward, a defensive stud and a centerpiece of Golden State’s offensive attack, and the stats back it up. Last season, Green averaged career-highs of 14.0 points, 9.5 rebounds and 7.4 assists and posted a franchise-record 13 triple-doubles. On the way to earning the first All-Star selection of his career, Green became the 15th player in NBA history to record a triple-double in three-straight games (Dec. 31 – Jan. 4) while also becoming the first player in franchise history to tally back-to-back triple-doubles on multiple occasions in a single season (Nov. 27 – Nov. 28; Dec. 31 – Jan. 4).

He may be an 11-year veteran, but Shaun Livingston can still elevate when he needs to. Former Warrior Richard Jefferson found out the hard way, as Livingston provided a thunderous highlight and dunked the ball over him in the second quarter of Game 5 of the NBA Finals.

Kevin Durant provided the ground-shaking moment of the NBA offseason when he announced he was signing with the Warriors as a free agent back in July. The former MVP and four-time scoring leader was introduced at a press conference in front of a packed crowd at the Warriors’ front office headquarters on July 7, at the close of which he summarized, “[I'm] just excited to be a part of this organization and play with these great players and play in front of these unbelievable fans and try to do the best I can as a player to help win games.”

It’s proven awfully difficult to beat the Warriors when they’re shooting the ball well, and that certainly was the case in Golden State’s Game 4 win over the Houston Rockets in their first round playoff series this past April. Klay Thompson made four of his seven three-pointers in the third frame as the Warriors made a franchise playoff-record eight in that quarter en route to an NBA playoff-record 21 threes in the eventual 121-94 victory.

Golden State became the 10th team in NBA history to overcome a 3-1 series deficit when they defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder in seven games in their memorable Western Conference Finals series, and required a legendary performance from Klay Thompson in Game 6 to do so. Thompson made a playoff-record 11 3-pointers and scored 41 points, including 19 points in the fourth quarter alone to help the Warriors overcome an eight-point deficit. "Steph [Curry] told me before I went out in the fourth, 'This is your time'," Thompson said. "'You know, put on a show out there and have fun.' I took those words to heart, and I just tried to be aggressive."

In a 142-106 victory over the Pacers on December 5th, Klay Thompson produced the greatest offensive display the Warriors’ franchise had seen in more than four decades. Thompson scored 60 points on 21-of-33 shooting from the field, 8-of-14 from three-point land and 10-of-11 from the free throw line, all in just 29 minutes of play. In doing so, Thompson became the first player in NBA history to score 60-or-more points in fewer than 30 minutes of playing time. Crazy stat: Thompson only touched the ball 52 times for a total of 88.4 seconds in the victory. All the more impressive, Thompson took a total of 11 dribbles – in the entire game!

Golden State possesses perhaps the best shooting backcourt in the history of the game, a theory given more credibility by both Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson making the finals of the Three-Point Contest at All-Star Weekend in Toronto. Curry, the reigning champion, advanced to the Finals on his final shot of the first round and put up the highest score of the event; that is, until the other Splash Brother had the last laugh. Klay Thompson dethroned Curry and saved his best for last, finishing with 27 points in the final round to mark the first time in Three-Point Contest history that different players from the same team have won it in consecutive seasons.

Only a select number of basketball players can say they’ve won an NBA championship. Even fewer can show off an Olympic gold medal. Klay Thompson and Draymond Green were able to claim both, while Kevin Durant became a two-time member of the latter category after all three won Gold as members of Team USA at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio. The Warriors were the only NBA team with three players on Team USA after not having any representatives on an Olympic team since 1992.

Sometimes the Warriors do things that look like they’re straight out of a video game, and they offered another one of those astonishing sequences in the third quarter of a home victory over the Pacers on December 5. Zaza Pachulia tipped the ball to Draymond Green off a jump ball on the Warriors own free throw line, who then heaved a one-handed pass to a streaking Stephen Curry at the opposite charity stripe. Curry caught the ball, and in a single motion, blindly tossed it straight above his head where it was collected mid-air by Durant and promptly jammed through the hoop with two hands for a ferocious dunk.

The Warriors are at their best when they’re sharing and moving the ball, and took that to the extreme in a 149-106 victory over the Lakers on November 23rd. Golden State collected a franchise record 47 assists, the most in an NBA game in 25 years. The Warriors would go on to post two more 40-assist games in the next three weeks, making them the first team since the 1996-97 Chicago Bulls to have three 40-assist games in a single season.

With a 125-104 win over the Grizzlies in the final game of the 2015-16 regular season, the Warriors improved to 73-9, eclipsing the mark set by the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls (72) to establish a new NBA record for single season wins. It was also their 39th home victory of the season, matching the franchise-record for single season home wins set in 2014-15.

Steve Kerr has gotten off to the most successful start to a coaching career in NBA history in his two-plus seasons with Golden State, a fact that aided in him being named the 2015-16 NBA Coach of the Year on April 26. Kerr and assistant coach Luke Walton, who served as interim head coach while Kerr recovered from back surgery complications, led the Warriors to an NBA-record 73 regular-season wins while becoming the first team in NBA history to go an entire regular season without losing consecutive games and the first to go an entire campaign without losing to the same team twice. Under Kerr’s guidance, the Warriors led the league in scoring (114.9 points), field goal percentage (.487), three-point percentage (.416), assists (28.9), point differential (+10.8) and offensive rating (112.5 points per 100 possessions) while becoming the first team in league history to hit 1,000 three-pointers in a single season with an NBA-record 1,077 triples.

The NBA lost a dear friend when former sideline reporter Craig Sager succumbed to his battle with leukemia on December 16th. The Warriors players, coaches and fans alike were deeply saddened by the loss of such a beautiful soul that has inspired so many others over the years, but rather than mourn his death, Steve Kerr insisted they all celebrate his life prior to tipoff of the Warriors’ game that night. Standing at midcourt and joined by both teams, Kerr said, “While we considered a moment of silence, we thought it would be more appropriate...to have a moment of joy instead,” and proceeded to lead the entire Oracle Arena crowd in a moving standing ovation in honor of Sager.

It’s difficult to quantify, but you can tell the players on the Warriors truly enjoy each other’s company, and it shows through their constant support of each other’s career accomplishments. Such was the case when Ian Clark was joined by his teammates for his high school jersey retirement at Germantown High School in Memphis on December 9th. Clark became the first player from Germantown High to appear in the NBA and the first player to have his number retired by the school, and when commenting on the support he has received throughout his journey, Clark said, “Being able to enjoy this moment with my family, with my friends, and with my teammates…it’s a great honor and I’m blessed.”