The great chase

There are twenty games left in the NBA season.  I made the decision last fall to keep blogging Warriors games until they fell off the pace of the winningest team of all time, the 95-96 Bulls.  They never did.  The NBA tracks the state of the chase here.  Today, at 56-6, they are one game ahead of the Bulls in the loss column.

To tie the Bulls' 72-10 record (it is inconceivable that they could break it), the Warriors need to go 16-4 down the stretch, an .800 winning percentage.  This would actually represent a decline from their current pace.

A few additional points:

• Only six of the remaining games are on the road.  The Warriors have not lost at home this season, and in fact have just set the NBA record for consecutive home wins.

• Three of remaining games are against the 54-10 Spurs, who are just four games behind the Warriors in the loss column.  If the Spurs somehow manage to finish ahead of the Warriors, they get the #1 seed in the west, and play their game 7s (if needed) at home all the way through.  In other words, although both have clinched playoff spots, both the Warriors and Spurs are still playing for something.

• Kerr is emphatic that he will not compromise the team's championship hopes just to get the regular season win record. 
• He will start to limit Curry's minutes, just as he did last year, but probably more aggressively because Curry has a dodgy ankle.
• Iguodala is hurt - has to rest.
• Ezeli is hurt - had surgery, may be back in time for the playoffs.
• Green is sick and pissed off.

After a loss in LA over the weekend and an uninspiring victory over the Magic last night, the Warriors seem to have lost some of their elan.  After all, it has been almost two weeks since they crushed the OKC Thunder in their own place, and almost a week since they did it again at Oracle.

We can only hope this benighted team returns to form soon.