OAKLAND – Michael Jordan never did it, and neither did Bill Russell or Jerry West.
Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Oscar Robertson couldn’t cut it, nor did Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Kobe Bryant.
Steph Curry and the Warriors are succeeding where thousands of NBA players, including hundreds of Hall of Famers, have failed.
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An understanding of NBA history is perhaps the best way to fully grasp the magnitude of where the Warriors currently stand, 15-0, tied for the best start in NBA history and heavily favored to break that tie when they face the reeling Lakers on Tuesday night at Oracle Arena.
“That’s the special part about it,” Steph Curry told CSNBayArea.com after practice Monday. “A lot of guys have done some great things in this league, scored crazy amounts of points and grabbed crazy amounts of rebounds and put up crazy stats like total wins and total championships.
[REWIND: Warriors 'might as well' break record Tuesday vs Lakers]
But for us as a team -– and especially as a defending champion -– to come out and do what we’re doing right now is something to be proud of.”
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Many greats have tried but only one Hall of Famer, Hakeem Olajuwon of the 1993-94 Houston Rockets, knows the feeling of starting a season with 15 wins in a row. The 1948-49 Washington Capitols also won their first 15 but no player from that team has been enshrined.
No one, no matter how great, has been on a team that started 16-0.
“We want to get to 16 and counting and see how long we can keep this thing going,” said Curry, who on Monday picked up his second Player of the Week award for this season. "But that’s special. To have this record, maybe in a month, maybe we’ll be talking about 33. Who knows? That’s the other number that’s out there."
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That 33-game streak, the longest streak in NBA history, belongs to the 1971-72 Lakers, who had both West and Chamberlain -– two of the top 25 players ever.
The next longest, 27 in a row, was achieved by the 2012-13 Miami Heat, who had All-Stars LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.
Those numbers are several weeks away from serious discussion. Yet Curry, the reigning MVP, someone who grew with a father who excelled in the NBA, comprehends the significance of what has been achieved and might be ahead.
“There are other milestones for us to have a chance at, but it’s special to be unblemished this far into the season,” he said. “We always say that our championship is something nobody can take away from us. This is something we can have that nobody else has experienced.”