Welcome to another edition of Around the NBA here at Sixerdelphia. This week, we take a look at the Golden State Warriors and the likelihood of them catching the 1995-96 Bulls. Also, the Toronto Raptors are surging to the top of the Eastern Conference while the Heat continue to roll without Chris Bosh. Let's get started…
After last night's win in Atlanta, the Warriors now sit at an unfathomable 50-5. 73 wins, which would surpass the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls for the all-time record, is well within reach. Let's take a look at how the schedule finished for them. With 27 games left, the Warriors will need to go 23-4 to reach 73. They'll play 10 on the road and 17 games at Oracle Arena, where they haven't lost in over a year. 17 games will be against plus .500 teams and 10 against sub .500. Golden State still has three games against the Spurs (two away, one home) and two versus the Thunder (one home, one away). The Warriors have five back-to-backs remaining and in two of those instances San Antonio is the second leg. That could pose a problem. One thing in their favor, however, is despite the insanely gaudy record, they still only have a 3.5 game lead over the Spurs, so it's not like they can afford to ease off the pedal anytime soon. To be honest, it's hard to imagine them not doing it but I still say they'll come up just a tad short and finish 70-12. Either way, it's going to be fun to watch.
Eastern Conference playoff watch…
Following the Cavs (40-15) loss to the Pistons last night and Toronto's win in New York, which included Kyle Lowry's eighth career triple-double, the Raptors (37-18) are just three games back in the East. The two teams will meet Friday night in Toronto. Cleveland will likely hold on to the top spot and are still a heavy favorite to come out of the East, but the Raptors are for real and should be taken seriously.
Just below those two teams in the East are Miami (32-24) and Boston (33-25), currently separated by percentage points for the three spot and the hope of avoiding Cleveland until the Conference Finals. What Miami has done of late has been impressive, they are defending like crazy and getting contributions from everyone, it'll need to continue with the uncertainty of when or if Chris Bosh will return.
Lillard lights up Warriors
Last Friday night, the Blazers waxed the defending champion Warriors as Damian Lillard went off for 51 points. Portland has won five in a row and nine of their last 10. They've been one of the best stories of the season and Terri Stotts will once again get heavy Coach of the Year consideration presumably along with Boston's Brad Stevens.
Miscellaneous NBA news, notes…
As we write this, the Grizzlies have announced that Marc Gasol is out for the season. Can that proud group hold onto a playoff spot without their best player? We'll have to wait and see.
Upon acquiring Channing Frye, the Cavs parted ways with Anderson Varejao. Since then, the veteran forward has joined the Golden State Warriors, where he can provide nice depth off the bench behind Dramond Green.
Meanwhile, Cleveland point guard Kyrie Irving left Sunday's game against Oklahoma City because he got no sleep the night before. The cause? Bed bugs.
"Just imagine how freaked out you'd be if you saw friggin' five, big bed bugs just sitting on your pillow," he said. "I woke up itching and I'm just looking around and I'm like, `Are you serious right now? It was 3 a.m. and I was so tired at that point."
"It is what it is," he said. "I feel like I got the worst of it. I wound up sleeping on the couch, waking up my back was tight. It was a long night, two nights ago. I just wanted to get back home to Cleveland."[NBA.com]
Despite Irving's early exit, Cleveland beat the Thunder 115-92.
Daniel Grugan is a contributor to Sixerdelphia.com
