The Golden State Warriors have started this season in incredible style as they improved their record to 22-0 on Sunday with a win over the Nets by a score of 114-98.
That's already the best start to an NBA season ever, not to mention that they have equaled the best away record (12-0) with their win on Sunday, but having won the Championship last season, a lot of pundits had predicted that they might fade away or fail to repeat their great form from last year.
The opposite has proven the case, as the Warriors seem to have been spurred on by the doubters to prove that not only did they deserve the title last year, but they may well be one of the best teams that we've ever seen in the sport.
Their incredible start is evidenced by their 22-0 record, obviously, but a deeper dive into their numbers reveals that they're on a run of historic proportions beyond just this win streak.
Steph Curry
The form player in the NBA at the moment, there's no doubting that Curry is the heartbeat of the team. Until now, he hasn't been talked about in the same breath as players such as Michael Jordan or Lebron James, but it's time to start considering that he's as pivotal to his team as either of those icons were, but without being detrimental to them in the way that perhaps Kobe Bryant has been to the Lakers at times.
While Curry's influence is felt around the team in a number of different ways, there's no getting around the fact that he is one of the most accurate shooters that the game has ever seen, in particular when it comes to sinking three pointers.
Speaking on his podcast after the Warriors went 20-0, Bill Simmons highlighted that Curry was averaging 32 points (now 32.4), 6 assists and 5 rebounds per game; the only player to do that across a season was one Michael Jordan, in the 1989/90 season.
Curry is also averaging five three-pointers a game (no one has ever managed to even average four), and is on course to make 400 this season. To put that in context, only three players have ever made 250, and no one has ever reached the elusive 300, so Curry would be out on his own by a good stretch.
By himself, Curry has already scored more three pointers this season than the Miami Heat, the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Brooklyn Nets.
Furthermore, he's proving repeatedly that as he's being asked to do more for his team, take more shots and find the basket more, he's actually getting better and more efficient, not worse.
With or without Steph
What makes this all the more impressive is that the Warriors have been so dominant that Curry often sits out the fourth quarter so he can stay fresh for their demanding schedule.
He is averaging 34.3 minutes on the court (and still scoring 32.4 in that time) but there's no doubting that when he's involved they're stronger: assists, rebounds and field goals made all fall when he's not there slightly, but the biggest drop is in their offensive rating, which goes from 119.7 to 100.8.
However, teams can't just double up on Curry and hope that they shut him out of a game, as Draymond Green is still churning out some great stats himself.
Still, the Warriors are dominant when he's on the court, outscoring their opponents by 13 points on average. Without him, that drops to them being outscored by 9, which suggests he's also doing his fair share on defence.
Warriors with Steph on the floor: +13, without: -9. Raptors with Lowry on the floor: +6, w/o: -10. Analysis: they're both pretty important
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) December 5, 2015
It's worth keeping in mind, of course, that they're normally in complete charge of the game when they take him off, so naturally are more likely to take the foot off the gas a little.
Beating their own records
Their out of this world start to the season has seen them averaging 115.3 points per game, which is something else that has simply never been heard of. If they can keep that up throughout the season, they're on course to beat the previous best of 92, which was set by a different Warriors team back in 1992.
Image: Rick Bowmer / AP/Press Association Images
Probability vs. Chance
If they go on to get enough wins to set the record for the longest winning streak (33 games), the pivotal match to tie it up would come for them against Lebron James' Cleveland Cavaliers on Christmas Day. That would be a hard fought win, but would certainly be the present that they want to see under their Christmas tree.
Even if the streak ends, they're still unlikely to start losing games by the bucketload, and have a chance at recording the best ever win percentage in the sport. The best season record in the NBA to date was set at 72-10 by the Chicago Bulls in 1996, a team that featured Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman.
According to the win projections of Nylon Calculus, they have a 75.32% chance of making 73 wins this season. As an extra caveat, that was calculated when they were just 20-0, but even then, they estimated that there was a 96.43% chance they would get more than 70 wins this season.
Suffice to say, if you haven't been watching so far, it might be time to tune in and bask in the glory of what could be the best team to ever grace the sport.
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