We know now that the Golden State Warriors are very much aware of how close they are to breaking the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls’ regular-season record and are fully prepared to chase it. Along the way, the Warriors have posted a perfect record at home (36-0), but they’re only one of two teams in the league to do so.
The other team is San Antonio (38-0). But if you ask them, like reporters did Wednesday, the Spurs aren’t concerned at all about finishing the season undefeated at home. In typical Spurs fashion, in fact, they couldn’t possibly care less about it.
“No, it really doesn’t [matter],”Manu Ginobili said (via ESPN.com). “If we would have lost Game 24, and now we are 37-1, it wouldn’t make that much of a difference. Having a 38-game streak or 37-1 is unbelievable, anyway. So I really don’t care about streaks. We know we are having a great season. If we would have lost one more or two more, it wouldn’t change that.”
Ginobli added, “I know it is something very hard to accomplish, but it shouldn’t take away anything if you go 40-1. It’s just one game. Besides that, we are playing great and have had a great season so far, and we’ve got to keep building because the playoffs are a couple weeks away, and that’s when we want to be the best team we can be.”
Gregg Popovich and Tony Parker echoed those words, and you have to believe the Spurs have done this long enough that they truly believe one game isn’t worth fretting over. Sure, going undefeated at home would be a heck of an accomplishment — for the record, San Antonio gets Toronto, Golden State and Oklahoma City at home to close out the season — but one game at this point doesn’t carry much weight in the race for a chip; except, no team in NBA history has ever gone undefeated over the course of an entire regular season.
The big picture remains that Golden State and San Antonio are the two best teams in the NBA and are on a collision course for an all-time classic in the Western Conference Finals — barring any upset beforehand.
Not that the Spurs are looking that far ahead. That would also be against their religion.
(Via ESPN.com)
