Watching Golden State Tuesday night, I was reminded of the call when Secretariat easily won the Belmont Stakes to take the triple crown, almost lapping the field: “He is moving like a tremendous machine! Secretariat by twelve, Secretariat by fourteen lengths on the turn! Sham is dropping back... But Secretariat is all alone! He’s out there almost a sixteenth of a mile away from the rest of the horses! Secretariat is in a position that seems impossible to catch. He’s into the stretch. Secretariat leads this field by 18 lengths... They’re in the stretch. Secretariat has opened a 22 length lead! He is going to be the Triple Crown winner! Here comes Secretariat to the wire. An unbelievable, an amazing performance!”
1) The Warriors are not unbeatable, just nobody has figured out how to do it yet. The Golden State Warriors will eventually lose this season. If I had to bet, it will come on their upcoming seven-game road trip (which includes some back-to-backs), but it will happen. Eventually.
That doesn’t diminish what they did Tuesday night, destroying the Lakers to become the first team in NBA history to go 16-0 to start the season. Which is insane. They are playing at a level a notch higher than anyone else in the league right now and their cruising speed can crush teams like the Lakers. LeBron James talked Tuesday about trying to savor the greats of the game — that is good advice. We need to step back sometimes and soak in the moment when we witness greatness. And make no mistake, right now the Warriors are great. Nobody has an answer for their small-ball lineup, nobody can slow the Stephen Curry/Draymond Green pick-and-roll. Whatever happens this season — start like this and don’t win a ring and people will only talk about the latter — right now the Warriors are simply a joy to watch. They play such a smart game. Seeing high IQ players working in unison is a joy for any true fan of the game.
And if you want to bring up them pushing the 72-win Bulls go right ahead — they likely will not get there, but nothing is out of play now. (The 1994 Rockets that started 15-0 lost a game then won seven more, they were 22-1, and yet didn’t even win 60 games. Things happen.). Forget Tuesday’s Laker game, L.A. is a dumpster fire. The Warriors are on an unprecedented streak, playing ridiculous offense behind Curry and their small-ball lineup, plus still having a top-5 defense. Savor this while you can.
2) Paul George drops 40 on Wizards. The Wizards say they want to play small and fast, but mostly they just play small. The Pacers showed them how to do it right on Tuesday night. Indiana hit 19 threes (a franchise record) and shot 73 percent from beyond the arc. It was a good night to be a Pacers’ fan. And it was a good night to be Paul George, who dropped 40 points on 14-of-19 shooting, and 7-of-8 from three. He could always shoot, but I don’t recall him having this kind of confidence in his shot before. He has a Curry-like belief in his shot right now. The Wizards had no answer. We’ve said before George is back, but here is a video reminder.
3) Dikembe Mutombo’s No. 55 retired in Atlanta. One of the game’s great defensive players and one of Atlanta’s fan favorites — the finger wag will do that — had his number retired in Atlanta on Tuesday night. It was well deserved.
4) Blake Griffin hits three pointer alley-oop. Sure, he knew this was going in all the way. Let’s see him recreate that in a practice. (The Clippers beat the Nuggets, by the way.)
5) Griffin and Nuggets’ coach Mike Malone had some not-so-kind words for each other. If you can read lips, well, then this is NSFW. Griffin and Nuggets coach Mike Malone exchanged a few unpleasantries during the Clippers win Tuesday night.
