NBA teams
J.A. Adande, ESPN Senior Writer 8y

Streaking Warriors are having a blast making history

NBA, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers

LOS ANGELES -- The reason why the Golden State Warriors are where they are, steps ahead of the Los Angeles Clippers and everyone else, is they take every game as seriously as the Clippers take their matchups with the Warriors.

Winning -- not wins, but winning -- is a feat and a mindset built by repetition. The Warriors have grasped the concept and mastered the approach. In the process they're not only padding their wins total but they're changing the way the NBA thinks about the regular season.

Look at some of the collateral damage caused by the Warriors' 13-0 start. The Houston Rockets fired their coach 11 games into the season because it was looking as if they would be lucky just to match the one game they took off the Warriors in last season's playoffs. LeBron James called out his team's efforts despite the Cleveland Cavaliers' 8-3 start amid a multitude of injuries because it didn't match up to the Warriors.

"We lost in the Finals," James said. "And the team that beat us looks more hungry than we are."

These are the new standards set by the Warriors. No more nights off in November. No packing it in even in the face of, say, a 23-point deficit on the road with the second game of a back-to-back set looming the next evening. That's the exact predicament the Warriors faced Thursday night, and when it ended, their perfect start had not.

Warriors 124, Clippers 117 feels like it could be a turning point for both teams and it's not even Thanksgiving. That's how much the Warriors have warped the NBA calendar, how much importance they've placed on games that used to define insignificance.

"I think we can bottle this --- the confidence and the way we're playing and the belief that we have -- through the rest of the season and the playoffs," Stephen Curry said.

He's right. The regular season isn't about playing 48 great minutes 82 times, it's about finding enough stretches over a lengthy schedule to prove you have what it takes to win it all, then tapping into that reservoir come playoff time. For the greatest of the greats, like the 1980s Lakers and the 1990s Bulls and maybe even these Warriors before they're done, a timely stretch of six to 10 minutes' worth of otherworldly basketball will be enough to put down most opponents.

Usually teams showcase their championship credentials by mid-January. The Warriors have already passed the test just a month in, playing as if they didn't have automatic entry into the contenders club by virtue of last season's championship.

The Clippers left Staples Center with major doubts, doomed to wonder why they failed to beat Golden State in their first two meetings of the season despite holding double-digit leads in both games. They played at their absolute best in the first quarter, producing 41 points on 71 percent shooting, led by 18 points and four assists from Chris Paul. And it still wasn't enough to win against the Warriors.

If they're wise they'll realize it's not just their shortcoming against their biggest rival and the league's No. 1 measuring stick, it's the fact they didn't bring a victory-worthy effort in games against the Mavericks and Suns and Rockets as well. Their issues were summarized by coach Doc Rivers' pregame lament about their inconsistency: "It's like we play movement in stretches," Rivers said. "We don't continually do it. We'll do it for a stretch and then we go back, then we do it for a stretch."

It's not that the Warriors maintain perfect execution themselves. What they have brought is perfect attention and effort. The reason they beat the Clippers on Thursday is because of the habits they developed while beating the Nets and Raptors.

"We're addicted to the feeling of winning," Klay Thompson said. "We want it so bad again that we'll almost play through anything."

Thompson has missed one game because of back pain and he probably should have sat out more than that. But he feels these games are important enough to play, that the Warriors need to establish a rhythm and gain confidence and perhaps even build up enough of a lead in the standings that he can rest down the road, closer to the playoffs.

Also, he doesn't want to miss out.

You know what assistant coach Luke Walton noticed after Thompson hit the 3-pointer off one of Draymond Green's nine assists to give the Warriors the lead at last with 2:43 left in the game? The way Thompson was smiling on his way back down the court.

"Because Draymond had me hyped up," Thompson said. "He's happier when he makes plays for people than when he makes plays for himself."

For Green, there's a simple philosophy behind his joy.

"You've got to enjoy these nights," Green said. "No. 1, I think we've got the best job in the world, so don't take that for granted, and enjoy it. We have a group of guys who enjoy being around each other. It's a lot of fun to play together. With that being said, every night is fun."

And that's the secret behind the Warriors' super start.

"They have fun," Walton said.

They don't view these games as onerous. They are to be savored, not to merely be consumed and checked off the list.

"Right now, the way that we're playing, the way that we're focused, it talks about how hungry we are," Curry said. "And we're staying in the moment, too. Each game is different, and each game we're finding different ways to win. You don't want to jump ahead to April."

Most teams do. The Warriors refuse to. They're setting up their future by zeroing in on the present, with a season start that could go down in history.

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