Warriors and 76ers at Opposite Ends of the N.B.A.

On opposite ends of the NBA rankings, the devastating, defending champion Golden State Warriors and “team horrible,” Philadelphia 76ers are the big stories thus far in the endless NBA regular season.

The Warriors, a surprise last year when they won their first NBA title in 40 seasons (the “Bellman” mentioned in the last post boldly predicted a long shot Warriors’ title that season after watching them play vs the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden–no betting involved and there is a beautiful purity to that story involving Rick Barry and the 1975 Warriors), were expected to be very good but their (27-1) record is beyond that.

Led by Steph Curry and under Luke Walton, Bill’s son, who is filling in for the injured Steve Kerr, Golden State has been devastating, winning their first 24 games (24 Rick’s number) before being stopped in Milwaukee by the Bucks.

History repeated as the Bucks stopped the Los Angeles Lakers’ record 33 game winning streak also in Milwaukee nearly 44 (Lakers’ great and current Warriors front office person, Jerry West’s number) years ago. Thus the Bucks’ franchise while ending the streak on January 9, 1972 in a nationally televised game on ABC, helped in a big way to preserve the record all these years later.

The less said about the once proud 76ers franchise, the better. They are off to a (1-30) start.

Steph Curry, pictured above is my choice as Athlete of the Year in 2015. He was the most important player in their title won in June and has led them to a great start in the current NBA season. Getting my award will “dwarf” those other honors Steph won such as MVP of the playoffs. (What do they write, LOL?!)