Revisiting the 2015–2016 Golden State Warriors

With their loss to the Indiana Pacers on Friday night, the Oklahoma City Thunder (who started the season 24–1) suffered their ninth loss of the season. While the Golden State Warriors were also 24–1 in their first 25 games, they didn’t lose their ninth game until April 5th! The best Oklahoma City can do is tie the record of 73–9, but they would have to finish the season 36–0 to do so.

Earlier in the season, there was talk of the Thunder potentially breaking the record after they matched Golden State’s 24–1 start. However, that talk was put to rest after they met the San Antonio Spurs three times in two weeks. San Antonio handed them losses in all three games and Oklahoma City also lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves during that stretch as well. After starting the season winning 24 of 25, the Thunder lost six of their next 12 games leaving them with a 30–7 record. This meant that Oklahoma City could only afford one more loss if they wanted to break the Warriors’ record.

For comparison, the Warriors didn’t lose their seventh game until March 19th. The interesting thing to look at is who Golden State lost to that season. The Spurs won 68 games that season and the Thunder won 59 games. The Warriors went 6–1 against those teams in the regular season. If you include the Cleveland Cavaliers — who won 57 games — they went 8–1 against three of the best teams in the league that year.

Interestingly enough, while the Warriors were dominate against the best teams in the league, their losses are against teams you wouldn’t expect. Of their nine losses on the season, eight of them came against teams who would win less than 50 games. The 68-win Spurs took them down in March, but that was the only team to win 50+ games that defeated Golden State during the regular season.

The Warriors’ first loss of the season came against the Milwaukee Bucks who won just 33 games during the 2016 season. They also lost to the Los Angeles Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves who won 17 and 29 games that season respectively. What makes this season so unprecedented is the fact that the Warriors never went on a losing streak.

While Oklahoma City was able to match the Warriors’ historic start, they took a slide in December that ruined their chances of breaking the record. Aside from losing to the Spurs three times, the Thunder also lost to the Charlotte Hornets, Portland Trail Blazers and Pacers — three teams who will most likely miss the playoffs this season. In a way, this shows how difficult it is to be consistently dominant throughout the season. As dominant as both the Warriors and Thunder have been, they still found ways to slip up against below average teams.

In the end, Oklahoma City is focused on accomplishing something the Warriors couldn’t — go back-to-back. Getting out of the Western Conference is going to be difficult, but if they can, another championship could be on the ledger for the Thunder. While the Warriors historic regular season will be remembered for a long time, everyone in the organization feels it is incomplete without the championship glory.