Stephen Curry scored 27 points and made 9 assists in the Golden State Warriors’ victory against San Antonio Spurs 112-101 to become only the second team in history to achieve 70 wins in a single season. So far only Michael Jordan and the legendary team of Chicago Bulls had recorded a similar achievement – 72 wins in season 1995/1996.
The best Warriors’ player Curry was even more motivated after the match. “We wanted to take care of tonight and clinch home court for the playoffs, was a goal of ours. With three games left and 73 still there, it’s obviously a lot to play for,” the guard said.
The champions continued to put on display great performance and they will try to equalize the Bulls’ balance of 72 victories and 10 defeats. The Warriors must win their last three games of the season – the trips to Memphis and San Antonio and the home match against Memphis, in order set a new record. The other teams, which were a step away from the record of “70” were the Los Angeles Lakers (1971/1972 – 69-13), and again the Chicago Bulls (1996/1997 – 69-13).
This success provided the Golden State an advantage in the playoffs, while the Spurs recorded their thirteenth loss of the season and now have a total of 65-13 against 70-9 for the Warriors.
The hosts recorded an easy victory. They had an advance of 20 points on several occasions during the match several times during the meeting exceeded their lead to 20 points. The Warriors made 33 assists for their 45 baskets of the game, scoring 12 threes from 25 attempts.
Harrison Barnes finished with 21 points and 8 rebounds for the Golden State Warriors, while Draymond Green scored 18 points and made 7 assists, 5 rebounds and 1 steal, although making three fouls during the first half. Klay Thompson finished with 14 points (5 of 13 shooting).
Kawhi Leonard scored 23 points for the Spurs. LaMarcus Aldridge and David West added 11 points as West impressed with 7 assists. Tony Parker and Kevin Martin scored 10 points each.
“We’ve been putting it off for as long as we were able to, which was until we got the 1-seed. Now that we have that, I’m inclined to give some guys some rest if they need it, but I’ve sort of made a pact with the guys that if they are not banged up and they are not tired and if they want to go for this record or whatever then — so we got to talk,” the Warriors’ head coach Steve Kerr said in an interview.
At both ends, Golden State Warriors have never been so close to make such record. They must achieve 3 victories in their last 3 games of the regular season.