That’s all for now. Thanks as always for following along with us and be sure to check out Arielle Retting’s full report from Oracle Arena.
Here’s Draymond Green on tonight’s win.
Draymond Green talks about why he wanted to win that 73rd game pic.twitter.com/rq4C9DKofb
— Arielle Retting (@aretting) April 14, 2016
None other than President Obama has chimed in with his congratulations after the Warriors have eclipsed his hometown Bulls in the record books.
Congrats to the @Warriors, a great group of guys on and off the court. If somebody had to break the Bulls' record, I'm glad it's them.
— President Obama (@POTUS) April 14, 2016
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Kerr admits he thought the Bulls’ mark of 72 wins was a sports record as unbreakable as Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak.
Steve Kerr talks the Warriors win pic.twitter.com/TpY0NftxVq
— Arielle Retting (@aretting) April 14, 2016
Golden State coach Steve Kerr invokes Gordon Gekko during his post-game press conference.
Here’s a look at the crowd reaction after tonight’s final buzzer.
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Draymond Green takes the mic and speaks to the Oracle Arena crowd: “On behalf of this entire organization, these 14 other guys, the coaching staff, everybody in our organization: we want to thank y’all.”
And it looks like he’s keeping that game ball. No question.
Final: Memphis 104-125 Golden State
It’s official. The Golden State Warriors have completed the greatest regular season in NBA history, finishing with a 73-9 record after a 125-104 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies. Stephen Curry led the way with a game-high 46 points on 15-for-24 shooting (including 10-for-19 from beyond the arc). Klay Thompson and Harrison Barnes chipped in 15 and 14, respectively. Grizzlies’ post man Zach Randolph led Memphis with 24 while Lance Stephenson added 22 off the bench. “I’m blessed to play this game,” says Curry in an on-court interview. “I just try to keep getting better and keep pushing myself.”
Memphis 102-125 Golden State 1.42, 4th quarter
And now Brandon Rush gets into the action with a three-pointer from the elbow. His first points of the game stretch the Golden State lead to 23 points and give the hosts an incredible 20 trifectas on the night.
Memphis 98-120 Golden State 4.18, 4th quarter
Consecutive buckets by Marreese Speights – a turnaround jumper and a driving lay-up – stretch the Warriors lead to 22 points. Memphis calls timeout, giving the Oracle Arena crowd yet another opportunity to rise and fete this record-smashing team with another standing ovation.
Memphis 96-113 Golden State 6.11, 4th quarter
We’re in laugher territory here. It’s simply a countdown to history.
Memphis 81-102 Golden State, end of 3rd quarter
Curry cans a three-pointer from the elbow with 3.7 seconds left in the frame. That’s his 10th longball of the night. He’s got a preposterous 46 points on 15-for-24 shooting in less than a half hour of court time.
46 points, 10 threes, 6 assists after 3 quarters for @stephencurry30! #Chasing73 pic.twitter.com/GWSj4Rl9RZ
— NBA (@NBA) April 14, 2016
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The Warriors are still leading as the third quarter comes to a close, and the crowd at Oracle Arena is on their feet. The Grizzlies seem to be coming alive after what I can only assume was an extremely motivational speech in the locker room at halftime. Will they catch up with the Warriors in the final quarter?
Seriously, this Golden State crowd is unbelievable pic.twitter.com/koaK4RPHnP
— Arielle Retting (@aretting) April 14, 2016
Memphis 74-92 Golden State 3.13, 3rd quarter
A pair of free throws by Curry lifts him to 40 points.
This game. pic.twitter.com/CXd0AXVpjG
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) April 14, 2016
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Memphis 74-88 Golden State 3.25, 3rd quarter
Curry’s on 39 points in 27 minutes. But after he crashes to the floor on a high-contact play off the ball just now, you begin to wonder just how long Golden State coach Steve Kerr will leave him on the floor. Another scoring spurt from the Warriors could do it.
Memphis 70-84 Golden State 5.20, 3rd quarter
The Grizzlies have cut the deficit from 23 to 14 – keyed by eight unanswered points from Zach Randolph – but an Green-to-Bogut alley-oop makes it 86-70.
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NBA pundits are falling over themselves to put Curry’s absurd long-distance achievements in perspective. A sampling:
To put Steph and the era in perspective, Larry Bird hit 649 three-pointers in the regular season in his 13-year NBA career.
— Rush the Court (@rushthecourt) April 14, 2016
Scottie Pippen ATTEMPTED 401 3-pointers in 95-96, leading the Bulls https://t.co/GztzH9ySRW pic.twitter.com/J9i6GmTwwT
— Basketball Reference (@bball_ref) April 14, 2016
If Steph Curry just played this season and was on the Spurs, he'd retire in the top 10 on the franchise 3-point list. In just one season.
— Quixem Ramirez (@quixem) April 14, 2016
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Memphis 58-80 Golden State 9.05, 3rd quarter
And Curry doesn’t wait long for No401. He’s just made a ninth three-pointer, then follows it up with an underhanded scoop shot on the following possession to bring his total to 35 on the night. Another timeout for the Grizzlies.
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Headed into the third quarter the crowd is louder than ever, with Steph Curry hitting his 400th three-pointer of the season and his eighth of the game. The crowd is excited, as you can tell.
And Steph hits his 400th three pic.twitter.com/O7f78Flwt8
— Arielle Retting (@aretting) April 14, 2016
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Memphis 53-72 Golden State 11.17, 3rd quarter
And there it is. After Vince Carter opens the second-half scoring, Stephen Curry cans a three-pointer from the elbow for his eighth of the night and 400th of the season. Incredible.
Continuing to make @NBAHistory. 400 3's in a season. #ThisIsWhyWePlay https://t.co/ODN3kWMC7b
— NBA (@NBA) April 14, 2016
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The Warriors have 22 assists on 25 made baskets. That puts them on pace for another game with 30 or more assists as a team. They’ve already set a franchise record with 42 such outings this season, tops in the league. They’re averaging an NBA-best 28.9 assists per game. Only 15 teams in history have averaged 29 or more assists over the course of a season.
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Half-time: Memphis 50-70 Golden State
There’s the horn and the Warriors head to the locker room with a 20-point lead. Curry has led the way with 25 points on 8-for-14 shooting including 7-for-13 from beyond the arc. He had not one but two shots for No400 on the final possession of the half just now yet both were short of the target. History looms.
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Memphis 44-66 Golden State 2.40, 2nd quarter
The Warriors are making a conscious effort to get Curry the ball. He cans another three from the elbow – his seventh of the night – to extend the lead to 22 points and push his season haul to 399. Timeout, Memphis.
Memphis 41-61 Golden State 4.02, 2nd quarter
The Warriors have extended their lead to 20 points on a Klay Thompson three-pointer, the team’s 12th of the game. Golden State haven’t just beaten their opponents this year: they’ve wiped the floor with them. They entered tonight’s game with an average point differential of +10.63 and will surely become the 10th team in NBA history to finish a season with a positive point differential in double digits (as they did last year). Interestingly, though, they’re not the league leaders in that category this year: that would be the Spurs (+10.79).
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Memphis 37-54 Golden State 5.47, 2nd quarter
Ja Green with an old-fashioned three-point play makes it five unanswered points for the Grizzlies and they’ve cut into the Warriors’ lead. Yet Klay Thompson snaps a string of Golden State misses with a three-pointer from the elbow to stretch it back to 16 points.
Memphis 29-44 Golden State 8.49, 2nd quarter
A Leandro Barbosa three-pointer – Golden State’s ninth of the game – makes it 44-29. That lifts the Warriors to a blistering 50% from downtown.
Memphis 23-37 Golden State, end of first quarter
Well that escalated quickly. The Warriors have stretched it to 14 points by the end of the first quarter. Curry – with 20 points already! – is responsible for six of Golden State’s eight three-pointers so far.
Memphis 16-24 Golden State 3.47, 1st quarter
Curry drains a three-pointer from five feet beyond the arc to make it 21-16. Then another on Warriors’ next possession to make it 24-16. And then another on the next trip down the court to stretch the lead to nine – prompting a 20-second timeout by the Grizzlies. The great man is now three away from 400 and we’re not even out of the first quarter.
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Memphis 14-18 Golden State 5.41, 1st quarter
Andrew Iguodal finds Klay Thompson darting from the elbow into the paint and the swingman finishes a reverse lay-up to make it 18-14, prompting a Memphis timeout. The entire crowd is on their feet.
Memphis 14-14 Golden State 6.52, 1st quarter
And we’re off! A fun fact via @gswstats: the Warriors’ largest (50 points) and smallest (1) victories have come against Memphis. A slow shooting start for Golden State as they miss five of their first six shots, but Curry cans a three-pointer from the elbow to open a 6-4 lead. Another three-pointer by Curry – his 394th of the season! – makes it 12-9 to Golden State.
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Here’s a look at tonight’s starters.
Memphis
- Jordan Farmar
- Vince Carter
- Matt Barnes
- Zach Randolph
- Chris Andersen
Golden State
- Stephen Curry
- Klay Thompson
- Harrison Barnes
- Draymond Green
- Andrew Bogut
And here’s a look at the Warriors’ pre-game introductions from Oracle Arena.
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One thing I’ve got my eye on tonight is whether Stephen Curry can manage to connect on eight three-pointers. That would lift his season haul to 400, an absolutely preposterous total considering no one in NBA history has ever finished a season with more than 286 ... which Curry did last year. Here’s a look at the all-time single-season leaders in trifectas.
Steph is on #400Watch!
— NBA.com/Stats (@nbastats) April 14, 2016
Needs 8 made 👌's to extend his @NBA record for made 👌's in a single season to 400! 🎯 🎯 🎯 🎯 pic.twitter.com/jYmBNSFbAd
With the Warriors having clinched the best record in the NBA with Thursday’s win over the San Antonio Spurs, tonight’s game against Memphis is all about one number. Incredibly, Golden State sealed a playoff berth with six weeks to spare in the regular season, becoming the first team since the 1987-88 Los Angeles Lakers to clinch in the month of February.
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A few assorted notes ahead of tonight’s potentially historic game between the Warriors and Grizzlies courtesy of Golden State’s media relations staff.
- Golden State (72-9) have 72 wins on the season, matching the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls’ NBA record for most wins in a single season.
- After winning a then-franchise-record 67 games last season, the Warriors are the only team in NBA history to follow a 65-win campaign with an improvement in the win column the next season.
- The Warriors have become the first team in NBA history to play an entire season without suffering back-to-back losses. In addition, Golden State are the first team in NBA history to play an entire season without losing to the same team twice.
- Golden State are the first team in NBA history to reach 63 games above the .500 mark.
- The Warriors are 38-2 (.950) at home this season, the franchise’s second-most home wins in a single season and one shy of matching the franchise record of 39 home wins set last season.
- Golden State are the fastest team to reach 50 wins in a single season in NBA history, doing so in 55 games, and the fastest team to reach 60 wins, doing so in 66 games. The Warriors have earned their seventh 50-win season in franchise history, winning at least 50 games in three straight seasons for the first time ever.
Oracle Arena is starting to fill up as Golden State attempts to make history tonight. The Warriors started their warm-ups to lots of applause, and Steph Curry impressed the crowd with his quick dribbling and – of course – some three-pointers. Before the game head coach Steve Kerr answered questions about Curry, saying: “He dominates through skill. ... Most dominant players are physical specimens, dominating forces. I think fans can relate to Steph.”
Steph Curry starting to warm up pic.twitter.com/up6vjFfQIE
— Arielle Retting (@aretting) April 14, 2016
Bryan and Arielle will be here shortly. In the meantime why not check out DJ Gallo’s stab at the interminable debate over whether the 1995-96 Bulls or 2015-16 Warriors are the better team.
The Golden State Warriors have won their way into the basketball record books this season, yet many fans are talking just as much about a team from 20 years ago: Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls.
Were those 72-win Bulls better than Steph Curry’s Warriors of today? Could Golden State do what the old Seattle SuperSonics couldn’t and knock off Chicago? Or would the Bulls sweep these Warriors, as Scottie Pippen recently claimed?
There are discussions about who on the Bulls could defend Curry and, likewise, if any Warriors could hope to slow Jordan. Would the Bulls struggle more with Golden State spreading the court or the Warriors with Chicago’s more physical style and Dennis Rodman crashing the boards? Which era’s conditions and style would the game be played under and with what refs?
And if we’re debating whether the 1996 Bulls or 2016 Warriors would win, why aren’t we considering if either of them would beat the 1965 Boston Celtics team that went 62-18? While 62 wins isn’t 72 or 73, the Celtics put up their record in a nine-team NBA, not the diluted league the Bulls and Warriors feasted on. Golden State gets to play the likes of the Sixers, Lakers and Suns while the worst team in the NBA of 1965, the San Francisco Warriors, started none other than Wilt Chamberlain. Would Rodman have any hope pulling rebounds away from the last-place Wilt, let alone Bill Russell? Surely Draymond Green would not.
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