The Warriors will lose eventually. We think.
They would have had ready excuses for not firing out of the gate: The standard championship hangover. Injuries to secondary scorer Klay Thompson. The absence of coach Steve Kerr, away from the sideline while he recovers from back surgery.
Instead, Luke Walton is 13-0 to start his coaching career and the Warriors are two games away from tying the NBA record for most wins to start the season.
The Warriors overcame their most daunting obstacle yet Thursday night by rallying from a 23-point deficit to beat the rival Clippers in Los Angeles. The Warriors — who had trailed 68-54 at halftime and by 10 with five minutes left — closed on a 22-5 run, boosted by 13 fourth-quarter points by Stephen Curry and all-court clutchness from Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala.
Curry is making an unimpeachable case for repeat MVP honors. His 34.2 points per game lead the league by more than five points, and he’s over the vaunted 50-40-90 shooting standard by miles at 52.0 percent on field goals, 45.3 on 3-pointers and 93.3 on free throws.
“We want to be great,” Curry told USA TODAY Sports. “I don’t think great teams take nights off. I don’t think great teams really coast through parts of the schedule just because you feel like you have the talent to do it. That cheats the process, and I think we have guys who understand [that].”
The upcoming schedule is not exactly filled with potholes. They finish a back-to-back at home Friday night against the Bulls (that would be 14-0), and road dates loom in Utah (19-0) and Toronto (21-0) during a seven-game trip.
Before we dismiss the sub-.500 cupcakes, it should be noted the Warriors’ biggest scare before Thursday came at home against the moribund Nets — a 107-99 victory in overtime.
But keep looking down the road and the Warriors could end up at 28-0 going into an NBA Finals rematch against LeBron James and the Cavaliers in Oakland on Christmas Day that will usurp Santa for one year.
And it’s reaching the point where the 95-96 Bulls’ 72-10 record could be in jeopardy after the Warriors challenged it by going 67-15 last season.