Golden State Warriors make NBA history with 16-0 start

Agencies, K24

OAKLAND, California — NBA MVP Steph Curry and his Golden State Warriors team made league history on Tuesday night with a 111-77 win over the Los Angeles Lakers at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California.

The defending champions became the first team in NBA history to start a season with a 16-0 record. Interim coach Luke Walton led the squad out against the Lakers, while head coach Steve Kerr is recovering from a series of back operations. According to Walton, Kerr’s message to the players was focused on four key values: joy, mindfulness, compassion, and competition.

“He just reminded everybody, he put [the values] up on the white board before we started shootaround and he reminded the guys what those values were,” Walton said. “He emphasized how proud he was watching them, because we’re hitting all four of those values.”

Golden State are by far the best team in the league, and Walton said it comes down to the values. “When we hit those four things we’re not only very tough to beat, but we’re very fun to watch,” Walton said. “The first [value] and the most important one is probably joy…It’s a long season, this game’s meant to be fun,” he added.

Warriors point guard Curry, who was rested for the entire fourth quarter, was humble and told reporters that the record was a “special accomplishment” and that it was a “proud moment.” Curry added, “There most likely will come a time we take a loss and have to deal with the emotions of that, just like we have in years past.” Curry remained realistic, though, and said, “So far we’ve been unblemished and done everything we need to do to get 16 wins.” He also acknowledged that his team must stay focused on the remaining games rather than the record. “It’s still early in the year, we’ve got 66 [games] left,” he said.

Teammate Klay Thompson was happy with his team’s achievement. “We’re going to celebrate it because it’s obviously a piece of history now,” Thompson said. He believes the achievement goes down to the fact that the current Golden State group is a “young team” who are “very hungry.”

The previous record was set by the Washington Capitols in the 1948-49 season where they went 15-0, equalled by the Houston Rockets in 1993-94, before the Warriors beat the record in Tuesday night’s victory.

(Associated Press writer Janie McCauley and K24 contributed to this report.)