What a night of basketball! The most memorable final day of the regular season in NBA history (with apologies to George Gervin and David Thompson) happened last night, with the Warriors breaking the all-time single-season wins record and Mamba going for 60 freakin’ points in his swan song. Kobe took 50 shots in his final game – could it be any other way? – but unleashed vintage clutch Kobe one last time, winning the game for the Lakers singlehandedly.
The Warriors’ magical season in numerical form:
73 – Wins
402 – Steph Curry threes
276 – Klay Thompson threes (most all-time by anyone not named Steph Curry)
54 – Consecutive home wins
56.3% – Team’s effective field goal percentage, best of all time
54 – Longest ever home winning streak
14-9.5-7.4-1.5-1.4-49% – The incomparable Draymond Green’s per game points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks and season field goal percentage
50.4-45.4-90.8 – Steph’s field goal, 3-point and free throw percentages, earning him placement in the elite 50-45-90 club (just Curry and Steve Nash), while scoring 30.1 points per game and making five threes per game
Insane. Kobe may have stolen the spotlight, but don’t kid yourself. This Warriors season will never be duplicated. Lukewarm take: with the pressure to break the wins record off and the team fully healthy, look for GSW to roll through the first two rounds of the playoff. I don’t see a let down happening. Beat the Spurs and Cavs, achieve another level of immortality.
Thanks to both the 2015-16 Warriors and Kobe for the memories…
Amazing finish for both Kobe and the Warriors. Fitting for Kobe in many ways but agree that the Warriors accomplishments and the joy they bring back to basketball will leave a more lasting impression.
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