The Warriors have quietly become the superteam we all expected

The Golden State Warriors lost their season opener to the Spurs. Five games later, they fell again to the Lakers, beginning their highly anticipated season at just 4-2. Expectations were slightly tempered, and eyes that had locked onto the Bay Area flirted to other intriguing stories around the league. Somehow, the Warriors faded ever so slightly into the background.

That has covered up the reality that since the loss to Los Angeles, they’ve been a juggernaut destroying anything in their path.

There’s a famous saying that goes something like, “a shot chart is worth at least 100 words.” So please, take a few moments to enjoy the Warriors’ chart this season.

The Warriors that the league spent all offseason dreading are here. Since that Lakers loss, they’ve won 11 straight games and the statistics are mind-blowing.

This is what we all knew was coming, but it’s still terrifying now that it’s actually here. The best offensive team added arguably the best offensive player, and now they’re both even better.

You might have expected for Durant’s stats to dip, but they haven’t really done so. In fact, he’s better than he ever has been.

One stat we mentioned earlier is important — a 74.1 percent assist ratio, by far the best in the league. Three-fourths of every shot the Warriors make comes within a few seconds of a pass. Curry is still shooting ridiculous threes after bringing the ball up the floor against lazy defense, and Durant is still finding time for isolations in the high post. But mostly, it’s just players finding each other for open shots, or situations that can quickly be turned into open shots.

In turn, you might naturally expect the Warriors pass the most. That’s not true — they average just under 310 passes per game, 11th-best in the NBA, according to NBA.com’s player tracking data. The league leader is actually the 76ers, averaging nearly 35 more per game. The difference is not just the number of passes, which is similar to their last three seasons, but who those passes go to.

In every other passing category, the Warriors blow the league away. They average 31.5 assists, nearly seven assists better than the second-best team. They average more than 10 secondary assists (or hockey assists), better than the second-best Spurs’ 6.5. They create about 75 points off assists, compared to the Rockets’ 60. The Warriors’ offense has allowed Curry and Durant to turn into spot-up shooters for stretches in every game. That’s a luxury usually reserved only for All-Star teams.

If there’s any change from the Warriors’ 4-2 start to their 11-game onslaught, it’s that Curry realized this is still his team, not KD’s. The stats aren’t dramatically different, but there’s a couple more only-Steph-would-even-dream-of-taking-that shots per game in recent weeks. One game after his league record ended (0-for-10 on threes after 157-straight games with a make), he created a new one (13 made threes in a game). His usage rate has ticked up ever so slightly, from 28.3 in those first six to 29.1 in the next 11. Meanwhile, Durant’s has fallen a few ticks without losing his effectiveness.

It’s worth noting that those 11 games mostly came against non-playoff opponents — only two of those opponents had a record better than .500. But the Warriors can only play who’s on their schedule, and for the most part, they’re blowing them all out.

For now, the Warriors have reached an equilibrium, one that is horrifying the rest of the league.