The Spurs and Warriors will make history when they meet tonight (10:30 ET on NBA TV).
Never have two teams with as high a combined winning percentage as San San Antonio (38-6) and Golden State (40-4) met this far into the season.
In fact, nobody has come close.
The difference between the combined winning percentage for this game and the second-ranking game – Celtics (34-12) vs. 76ers (46-4) in 1967 – is greater than the difference between No. 2 and No. 42.
Here are the 50 games with the highest combined win percentage this deep into a season (88 combined games):
| Game | Combined win percentage |
| Jan. 25, 2015: San Antonio Spurs (38-6) v. Golden State Warriors (40-4) | 88.63% |
| Jan. 24, 1967: Boston Celtics (34-12) v. Philadelphia 76ers (46-4) | 83.32% |
| Feb. 4, 1972: Los Angeles Lakers (44-7) v. Milwaukee Bucks (45-11) | 83.17% |
| Jan. 28, 1981: Boston Celtics (42-9) v. Philadelphia 76ers (44-9) | 82.68% |
| Feb. 6, 2015: Atlanta Hawks (41-9) v. Golden State Warriors (39-8) | 82.46% |
| Apr. 7, 1996: Chicago Bulls (65-8) v. Orlando Magic (55-19) | 81.62% |
| Feb. 5, 2009: Los Angeles Lakers (39-9) v. Boston Celtics (41-9) | 81.62% |
| Feb. 25, 1996: Chicago Bulls (48-6) v. Orlando Magic (40-14) | 81.47% |
| Feb. 4, 1981: Philadelphia 76ers (45-10) v. Boston Celtics (43-10) | 81.47% |
| Feb. 8, 2009: Los Angeles Lakers (40-9) v. Cleveland Cavaliers (39-9) | 81.43% |
| Mar. 1, 1972: Los Angeles Lakers (57-11) v. Milwaukee Bucks (55-15) | 81.15% |
| Mar. 9, 1997: New York Knicks (46-16) v. Chicago Bulls (53-7) | 81.14% |
| Jan. 30, 1985: Philadelphia 76ers (35-9) v. Boston Celtics (37-8) | 80.89% |
| Feb. 5, 1997: Los Angeles Lakers (34-13) v. Chicago Bulls (42-5) | 80.84% |
| Jan. 27, 1973: New York Knicks (40-12) v. Boston Celtics (40-7) | 80.80% |
| Mar. 14, 2007: Phoenix Suns (49-14) v. Dallas Mavericks (52-10) | 80.79% |
| Mar. 4, 1983: Boston Celtics (42-15) v. Philadelphia 76ers (50-7) | 80.69% |
| Feb. 12, 1967: Boston Celtics (44-14) v. Philadelphia 76ers (52-9) | 80.66% |
| Apr. 16, 1997: Miami Heat (59-20) v. Chicago Bulls (69-11) | 80.49% |
| Mar. 17, 1972: Los Angeles Lakers (64-12) v. Milwaukee Bucks (59-18) | 80.38% |
| Feb. 29, 2000: Los Angeles Lakers (45-11) v. Portland Trail Blazers (45-11) | 80.35% |
| Jan. 28, 1973: New York Knicks (41-12) v. Boston Celtics (40-8) | 80.19% |
| Mar. 8, 1967: Philadelphia 76ers (62-11) v. Boston Celtics (55-18) | 80.13% |
| Feb. 2, 1997: Chicago Bulls (40-5) v. Seattle SuperSonics (32-13) | 79.99% |
| Apr. 1, 2007: Phoenix Suns (54-18) v. Dallas Mavericks (61-11) | 79.85% |
| Feb. 7, 1973: Boston Celtics (43-11) v. Los Angeles Lakers (44-11) | 79.81% |
| Mar. 11, 1967: Boston Celtics (55-19) v. Philadelphia 76ers (63-11) | 79.72% |
| Mar. 18, 2015: Golden State Warriors (53-13) v. Atlanta Hawks (53-14) | 79.69% |
| Mar. 2, 2006: San Antonio Spurs (44-12) v. Dallas Mavericks (45-11) | 79.45% |
| Jan. 15, 1981: Milwaukee Bucks (33-12) v. Philadelphia 76ers (39-7) | 79.11% |
| Mar. 22, 1997: Chicago Bulls (58-9) v. Detroit Pistons (48-19) | 79.09% |
| Jan. 25, 1981: Philadelphia 76ers (43-9) v. Phoenix Suns (40-13) | 79.04% |
| Feb. 16, 1986: Boston Celtics (40-9) v. Los Angeles Lakers (39-12) | 78.99% |
| Mar. 1, 1981: Boston Celtics (51-15) v. Philadelphia 76ers (54-13) | 78.94% |
| Mar. 6, 2009: Boston Celtics (48-14) v. Cleveland Cavaliers (48-12) | 78.68% |
| Apr. 12, 2009: Cleveland Cavaliers (64-15) v. Boston Celtics (60-19) | 78.47% |
| Feb. 11, 1972: Boston Celtics (42-18) v. Los Angeles Lakers (49-7) | 78.44% |
| Apr. 10, 1997: Chicago Bulls (67-10) v. New York Knicks (53-23) | 78.42% |
| Mar. 28, 2006: Detroit Pistons (55-14) v. Dallas Mavericks (54-16) | 78.41% |
| Mar. 18, 1997: Chicago Bulls (56-9) v. Seattle SuperSonics (45-19) | 78.28% |
| Feb. 8, 2015: Memphis Grizzlies (37-13) v. Atlanta Hawks (42-9) | 78.21% |
| Feb. 14, 1997: Chicago Bulls (43-6) v. Atlanta Hawks (32-15) | 78.12% |
| Apr. 1, 2012: Oklahoma City Thunder (39-12) v. Chicago Bulls (42-11) | 77.87% |
| Feb. 6, 1973: Los Angeles Lakers (43-11) v. New York Knicks (45-14) | 77.87% |
| Mar. 9, 1973: Boston Celtics (57-13) v. Los Angeles Lakers (52-18) | 77.85% |
| Apr. 3, 2009: Orlando Magic (55-19) v. Cleveland Cavaliers (61-14) | 77.84% |
| Apr. 15, 2007: Dallas Mavericks (65-14) v. San Antonio Spurs (58-21) | 77.84% |
| Mar. 31, 2013: Miami Heat (57-15) v. San Antonio Spurs (55-17) | 77.77% |
| Mar. 16, 1983: Philadelphia 76ers (54-9) v. Boston Celtics (44-19) | 77.77% |
| Feb. 17, 1991: Los Angeles Lakers (36-13) v. Portland Trail Blazers (41-9) | 77.77% |
Reduce the minimum of the range all the way to 30 combined games. Still only one game features a higher combined win percentage than Spurs-Warriors: Houston Rockets (18-1) vs. Seattle SuperSonics (16-1) in 1994.
The closest proximity is probably Bucks (35-8) vs. Lakers (39-3) in 1972. Milwaukee’s win snapped the Lakers’ 33-game winning streak.
It’s just rare for two teams on this level to meet so deep into the season – mostly because it’s rare for two teams to play at this level in the same season.
Not only are Golden State and San Antonio winning frequently, they’re winning big.
The Spurs are outscoring opponents by 14.5 points per game. The Warriors are +12.1 per game. That’d rank as the No. 1 and No. 7 marks of all time over a full season.
Here are the top 20 teams in point difference per game this far into a season, San Antonio in black and Golden State in blue:
We’ve seen something like this only once before. Beside 2015-16, just one other season produced two teams in the top 20 of margin of victory per game.
In 1971-72, the Lakers (69-13, +13.9) and Bucks (63-19, +13.2) dominated the competition.
Like the Spurs and Warriors, they even shared a conference. Milwaukee was in the West back then. Los Angeles won four of five regular-season meetings then beat the Bucks in six games in the conference finals en route to the title.
Those Bucks – even with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Oscar Robertson and a championship the previous season – are probably still underrated. They just had the misfortune of playing the same time as a loaded Lakers team that featured Wilt Chamberlain and Jerry West.
There just hasn’t been anything like that simultaneous domination – until now.
For perspective, here are the top two teams in point difference per game this far into each season (No. 1 in black, No. 2 in blue):
However, there’s a big asterisk on the Warriors’ and Spurs success: They haven’t faced each other.
It’s much easier to dominate when not facing the league’s other elite teams. That’ll change soon.
This is the first of four meetings between Golden State and San Antonio. The Warriors still have all three of their games against the third-best Thunder left, and the Spurs also face Oklahoma City thrice more.
For both Golden State and San Antonio to maintain their high average margin of victory, they’ll have to beat up even more convincingly on other teams. After all, they can’t both dominate their four games with each other. They’ll likely pull each other down to the mean.
But perhaps one can keep its résumé so shiny. If so, will it be the Warriors or Spurs?
Someone will land the first blow in tonight’s historic matchup.
If you’re a Comcast subscriber in the Bay Area, you can stream tonight’s Warriors-Spurs game here.
