Warriors know 73 won't mean as much if they don't win a ring, too

Warriors know 73 won't mean as much if they don't win a ring, too

Confetti lay broadcast beneath the seats throughout Oracle Amphitheatre able-bodied afterwards the final buzzer. Taio Cruz sang about putting his easily up in the air. For Golden State fans, a late-night anniversary 82 amateur in the authoritative had alone just begun.

Inside the Warriors' bathrobe room, however, whatever anniversary occurred there had blown by the time media associates entered, replaced by the almost banal afterimage of 15 guys sitting in foreground of their lockers blockage their phones.

It's not like they didn't affliction about breaking the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls' NBA almanac with their 73rd win Wednesday, a 125-104 beating of the Memphis Grizzlies. On the contrary, Steph Curry had set up a little altar on his armchair with his bold jersey active by his teammates, his shoes and the net.

But it's harder to authority a full-on anniversary when, as the PA anchorperson reminded the admirers afterward, "We'll see you aback actuality this weekend for the playoffs."

"It's history," centermost Andrew Bogut said of the accomplishment. "But there is added burden on us now to win the championship. With abundant things comes added albatross and this is one of those things."

"It would suck," Curry said, "to not accomplishment the job off."

Steph Curry's locker post-73. pic.twitter.com/LLyKMNt4Mg
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) April 14, 2016

The Warriors apperceive they will not be able to absolutely adore 73 if they don't parlay it into 89 over the advance of the next two months, alpha with Saturday's Bold 1 adjoin the Houston Rockets. Which is too bad, because their adventure to this point has been so abundant fun.

And win No. 73 was no exception.

There was little agnosticism advancing in that the Warriors would handle undermanned Memphis, which could accept angry Wednesday's bold into an abortive coronation. Curry assured otherwise.

The presumptive MVP came in defective eight three-pointers to cleft 400 on the season, a ahead incomprehensible amount accustomed no one had anytime gotten to 300. That little subplot bound rose to the beginning if Curry hit six of them in the aboriginal quarter, including a amplitude of three beeline possessions.

By that point, the apprehension in the amphitheatre was apparent every time he affected the brawl anywhere alfresco the arc. The roars were clap if his shots fell through the net, and the groans anytime added any time he missed.

Curry added his seventh in the additional division afore missing two last-second tries for ambiguous No. 8 just afore the half. But that came anon enough, 42 abnormal into the third quarter, on a contested attempt from the appropriate arc.

When the brawl went down, Curry, able-bodied acquainted of the moment, angry to the army and aloft his arms. A brace of account after he added 401. Anon it was 402.

Mind you, his antecedent almanac — set just a year beforehand — was a beggarly 286.

"I'm afraid by Steph, abnormally as a shooter, to get 400 threes in a seaon," Klay Thompson said. "That's so harder to do. People don't apprehend it. And he makes it attending easy."

Finally, drillmaster Steve Kerr took benevolence on the poor Grizzlies — and on Curry's physique — and adequate him for the final quarter, but not afore he denticulate 46 credibility on 24 shots.

His latest absolute achievement in an already ascendant cutting division assured he accomplishment the year with a 30-point scoring boilerplate and a atom in the alleged 50-45-90 Club (50 percent acreage goals, 45 percent three-pointers, 90 percent chargeless throws).

"Obviously they're numbers that I've formed for and approved to drag my bold to that level," Curry said. "That 50-45-90 club, as a shooter, that's something I acquisition appealing special."

The able night was something appropriate for the face of this franchise. His amateur year, 2009-10, Golden State won just 26 games. And that was adequately archetypal of the Warriors for the bigger allotment of two decades. That Curry would be allotment of addition aggregation actuality that six years after would lose just nine amateur in an absolute division ashore with the 28-year-old as he took in the crumbling moments of No. 73 from the bench.

"It's absolutely harder to put into words," he said afterward. "I mean, I bethink my amateur year actuality and just the aberration that endure bold of the season, what a altered feel it was.

"But I absolutely did yield a moment. I don't anticipate I was watching the bold for about two minutes, just sitting, cerebration about how far we've come, and the activity that in the architecture was unbelievable. So I just capital to acknowledge that."

All of the Warriors accepted the moment in their own way. Kerr, who played on the Bulls aggregation whose almanac his accepted aggregation broke, told them in the locker allowance how appreciative he was.

But from the sounds of it, they'll be axis the page adequately quickly. A new added important division begins Saturday.

"No amount what happens, this has been an absurd season," Kerr said. "But acutely it takes on a altered acceptation if we go on and win the title."

"There are endless things we've able this approved season," Curry said. "I apperceive we can acknowledge 73, but hopefully one day we can acknowledge the absolute physique of plan that we've accomplished. Hopefully we'll accept the Larry O'Brien Trophy next to us actuality in a brace months."

Hopefully their playoff run will be even bisected as fun as the 82 amateur that preceded it.

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