Tonight will go down as one of the most historic nights in NBA history. The Golden State Warriors won their 73rd game of the season with a 125-104 win over the Memphis Grizzlies, setting a new NBA record for most wins in a regular season and Kobe Bryant played in his final NBA game, scoring 60 points and leading the Lakers to a 101-96 win over the Utah Jazz. I couldn't decide which topic to write about so I decided to write about both.
First, let me address the Warriors' record-setting season. What makes the Warriors' 73-9 season so impressive is that they did it so early into their reign of dominance. When Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls went 72-10 in the 1995-96 season, they did it en route to their 4th NBA championship. The Warriors went 73-9 after winning their first NBA Championship in 40 years!
It's hard to think of a team that has risen to success as quickly as this Warriors team. At the end of the 2011-12 season, the Golden State Warriors finished with a 23-43 record. Four seasons later, they are 73-9 with the best record in the NBA history. What the Warriors are doing right now is flat out ridiculous when you consider where they were four seasons ago. Almost overnight, they went from being in the doghouse of the NBA to being a juggernaut that cannot be stopped.
Stephen Curry has emerged into a three-point shooting force of nature that makes impossible shots at will. The basketball floor is his canvas and on it he paints whatever he wants to no matter who he is playing. Stephen Curry fires shots from beyond the arc like an archer that hits a bullseye ever single time. He has taken 3-point shooting to another level and redefined the game of basketball in the process. It is fitting that in the Warriors' 73rd win of the season, Stephen Curry went off for 46 points on 10-19 shooting from 3-point range, totaling 402 3-point shots made for the season. The Warriors finished the season the way that they started, which is blowing teams off the floor with their 3-point shooting and suffocating defense.
As for Kobe Bryant's last game, this too ended in a fitting way. For one thing, the Utah Jazz asphyxiated themselves in the Staples Center, something that has happened many times during Kobe Bryant's career. It is fitting that for one last time, Jazz fans watched their team self-destruct against Kobe Bryant's Lakers.
(Credit: Keith Allison. Click here for source)
In addition, Kobe Bryant went off for 60 points and willed his team to victory for one final time. In the final minutes of the game, Kobe Bryant took over and did what he has done for his entire career, which is crush the soul of opponents though his own array of difficult shots and iron will. Kobe Bryant went off the way every NBA fan would want him to: Victorious and in firm control of the game. Like Stephen Curry, Kobe Bryant has been able to do what he wants to on a basketball court without anybody being able to stop him.
What makes tonight so special for the NBA is that past, present, and future all came together in one night. Kobe Bryant, one the NBA's greatest players went out on a high note and Stephen Curry, the superstar of the NBA for the present and future, led his team to a record-setting 73 wins doing what he does best, which is drain three-point shots in opponents' faces. In addition, Steve Kerr, who was on the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls team as a player, got to be a part of the best regular season in NBA history again, only this time as a head coach.
It's very rare when past, present, and future all come together in one night and on April 13, 2016, all three of these things came together in the living rooms of NBA fans across the world. An NBA hall of fame player concluded his brilliant career, a future hall of fame player led his team to a league record 73 wins, and one man got to be a part of NBA history for a second time. Will such a night ever happen in NBA history again? Probably not, which is why we should all soak this night in.
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