Warriors, Spurs On Historic Winning Paces This Season
OAKLAND (CBS/AP) -- There's never been an NBA season where two teams both won at least 80 percent of their games. Golden State and San Antonio might change that.
With the season now past the midway point the Warriors are chasing a repeat title, the Spurs are chasing the Warriors, and they're both chasing history. When the teams meet Monday at Golden State for the first of their four regular-season match-ups, the Warriors will enter with a .909 winning percentage — on pace to be the best in NBA history — while the Spurs are at .864.
Chicago's mark of .878 (72-10) from 1995-96 is the NBA's single-season best.
Win or lose Monday, Golden State will remain ahead of that pace. And while San Antonio almost seemed like an afterthought amid Golden State's 24-0 start, the Spurs are merely on pace for the third-best record ever.
"The Warriors go on a 55-game winning streak and they're only two games ahead of them," said Miami's Chris Bosh, slightly overstating Golden State's winning streak. "That's crazy."
Tickets for Monday's game at Oracle Arena were selling at a major mark-up on Stubhub.com, with upper level tickets starting at $175 each while courtside and lower level club seats were going for as much as $2,500 per ticket.
The most expensive tickets on the site were inexplicably upper level seats, though it seems unlikely someone would pay nearly $16,000 for a pair of 13th row seats in the corner of the arena.
While this meeting is being touted as a potential Western Conference finals preview — as will the other Warriors-Spurs games on March 19, April 7 and April 10 — it lost some star power Sunday when San Antonio ruled Tim Duncan out with right knee soreness.
But Bosh didn't think the teams would take a true playoff-type approach anyway, not this early in the season. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich and Warriors coach Steve Kerr know that no matter how important Monday seems, much bigger nights await before the Larry O'Brien Trophy gets awarded again.
"I don't expect anybody to show their hand early," Bosh said. "They might play psychological games. Pop might rest the first 10 guys and sign eight D-League guys and send them out there. You never know."
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