NBA scores 2017: Warriors are first team with 3 straight 65-win seasons

Golden State set another ridiculous record, this one by winning a 65th game. Again.

Apr 6, 2017, 12:00 PM UTC

NBA: Golden State Warriors at Phoenix Suns

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

In 1998, after winning 72 and 69 games in consecutive seasons, the Chicago Bulls finished their season winning only 62 games. They started the year 8-7 and lost three of their final six games before winning their third straight championship. It still went down as the best three-season stretch of any team in NBA history.

On Wednesday, the Warriors tied that regular season mark. They can’t win three straight championships, of course, after that whole 3-1 scenario you might recall from last summer. But with their 65th win, they set NBA history by becoming the first franchise with three straight seasons of 65-plus wins.

They have three games left to pad those stats, riding a 13-game winning streak, and Kevin Durant will be available for all of them after missing time with injury.

Wednesday’s win was a surprisingly close one and yet, one that no one ever felt was in any jeopardy. Golden State jumped out to a 41-18 lead in the first quarter, let the Phoenix Suns to single digits in the second, then kept them at arm’s length — like an older brother might do to a flailing, angry sibling — the rest of the game. They won 120-111.

More importantly, the magic is really back for Golden State. Whenever you throw an alley oop pass like this one after a mad scramble for the ball that somehow went your way, and it goes into the hoop without any assistance, then it’s proof. Yes, the magic is fully back.

Stephen Curry dropped 42 points on 15-of-26 shooting with 11 assists, too. Klay Thompson tossed in 22 points of his own, though only a couple threes. Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala both took the game off for rest, and it didn’t really matter.

Can anyone slow down the Warriors in the postseason? We will see.

More from Wednesday

The Lakers can’t even lose right. Unless Phoenix can get a win against the Thunder, the Mavericks or the Kings, Los Angeles will end up with the third-best odds in the 2017 NBA draft. That would be good, except the pick changes hands to Philadelphia if it falls out of the top three, and all it would take is one team jumping the Lakers for them to lose it now. Those are awful odds, compared to much better ones if they’re sitting No. 2 overall. And their one-game lead over Phoenix now is solely because they decided to beat the Spurs on Wednesday, even with San Antonio playing their starters.
Russell Westbrook can’t even triple-double right. How dare Westbrook only score 45 points with nine rebounds and 10 assists? I am upset he didn’t give us his 42nd triple-double, which would have given him the most ever by an individual during a single season. On Wednesday, he absolutely dominated the fourth quarter against the Grizzlies yet again, and he’s now six assists away from averaging a triple-double for an entire season.
Cleveland is fine, like we said: The Cavaliers rolled over Boston in devastating fashion. Seriously, Wednesday’s game was a mauling. LeBron James cares about the No. 1 seed for its home court advantage in the postseason, and with Boston tied with Cleveland in the standings, he decided it wasn’t time to mess around. Now the Cavaliers look like a team that can win the Finals, even if everyone kind of knew this was coming all the same.
Kyle Lowry is back, and he’s still everything: Lowry had been out since the All-Star break after undergoing wrist surgery, so he returned on Wednesday, played 42 minutes, and scored 27 points with 10 assists in a three-point win. That is so typical. (42 minutes in his first game back — jeez, Dwane.)