The Golden State Warriors head into the All-Star break with a 48-4 record and an active 11-game winning streak. 3.5 games clear of the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference and one of just two teams with 40 wins or more in the NBA, the Warriors are on pace to go 75-7 -- three full games better than the record for best regular-season mark in league history (1995-96 Chicago Bulls, 72-10).
With all this in mind, let's assess Golden State's magical 52-game run in 2015-16 with our Midseason Report Card.
Offense: A+
The Warriors are the perfect machine -- a ball-movement whirlwind predicated on passing up fair shots for good shots, and good shots for great shots.
That, and they've got Stephen Curry at their disposal.
Curry is the Vladimir Guerrero of the NBA. The former MLB slugger was a noted bad-ball hitter, raking pitches off his shoetops into the bleachers thanks to incredible form and concentration. Curry is similar in that he hits contested jumpers with regularity, swishing shots that'd be impossible for anyone else in the league.
The 2014-15 MVP leads in contested jumper field-goal percentage by a wide margin, but also excels at cutting into open space to either drain easy looks or find other shooters/cutters to the basket.
As for the rest of the team, it's a fine-tuned mismash of dynamic shooters (Klay Thompson), two-way beasts with inside/outside proficiency (Draymond Green) and role players who could be stars on a litany of other teams (Andre Iguodala, Harrison Barnes, etc.) Golden State leads the league in scoring per game (115.5), assists per game (29.2) and a handful of other metrics.
Perhaps they won't be able to keep up this clip forever. But, there's no other grade than A+ for what's been accomplished so far.
Defense: A-
We chose A- on the A-/B+ line on this one, considering that Golden State is currently third in overall rebounding per game (46.9) and has the length and smarts to disrupt any and all shooters in the mid-range on out.
The problem here is that you can come back on the Warriors by doing two things -- a) kill them with transition defense-to-offense by jumping into passing lanes and b) pounding the ball inside to a big who excels with his back both towards and away from the basket. All-Star Draymond Green works hard and does well to nullify the impact of both of those weaknesses normally, but sometimes it feels like he's doing it alone.
Teams haven't been able to put together full 48-minute stretches of exploitation too often, so this grade remains on the A-side of the fence. However, the 19th best scoring defense in the league (103.0) remains a worry.
Intangibles: A+
If confidence could be bottled and sold, the Warriors' players would own their own chain of island in the Pacific Rim. These guys mesh together in a way where each player feeds off the heat check of another. It's both a competition thing amongst the players in-house and a genuine "buy-in" to the ultimate championship mission.
Watch any Warriors game at any point during the season and you'll see a collective who expects, not only to win, but to put games away before the fourth quarter rolls around. That's why they've outscored opponents by over 14 points per game over the course of an active 42-game home winning streak.
Golden State doesn't just escape. They pile on with confidence and precision.
Repeat Potential: A
You'd think an A+ would be a sure thing given the team's record pace, but the San Antonio Spurs still lurk -- no matter how badly the Warriors crushed them in the teams' opening tilt of the 2015-16 campaign.
San Antonio has experience, potency and length. Oklahoma City has two of the best players in the NBA (Durant, Westbrook). Those two teams may not be able to outlast Golden State's balance in a seven-game series, but they're as primed as any to try.
In the East, a full-strength Cleveland Cavs squad and a shooting-on-all-cylinders Toronto Raptors team could put a scare in Golden State in an NBA Finals showdown. We'd have the Warriors as favorites in all four of these hypothetical series. However, if they're forced to play three of these teams to repeat, it'll be a heck of a mountain to climb.
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