{"id":1879752,"date":"2026-04-13T12:00:47","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T09:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1879752"},"modified":"2026-04-13T12:00:47","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T09:00:47","slug":"the-warriors-73-win-season-a-decade-later-we-beat-the-s-outta-everybody","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1879752","title":{"rendered":"The Warriors\u2019 73-win season, a decade later: \u2018We beat the s\u2014 outta everybody\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Draymond Green doesn\u2019t hesitate when he hears the question. Looking back on the Golden State Warriors\u2019 2015-16 season a decade later, a simple thought pops into the now 36-year-old forward\u2019s mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty easy,\u201d Green told The Athletic<\/em>. \u201cWe beat the s\u2014 outta everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Monday marks the 10th anniversary of the night Green and the Warriors dominated the Memphis Grizzlies in the regular-season finale to secure their 73rd win. That mark still stands, and many within the organization believe it always will.<\/p>\n

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\u201cEarlier this season, I thought OKC had a real shot,\u201d Warriors coach Steve Kerr told The Athletic<\/i>. \u201cAnd you just see how difficult it is. One of the reasons it may never be broken is the pace and the space of the modern game. It\u2019s changed things so much, the wear and tear on everybody. The health of the players, we monitor the players much better than we did back then. Guys are playing longer careers, but shorter seasons because we\u2019re making sure we hold them out in case they\u2019ve got injuries. There\u2019s a lot that goes into it, but I just don\u2019t see anybody ever going 74-8. I just don\u2019t know how it would be possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Kerr, Green and Warriors star guard Stephen Curry reflect a decade later, the emotions are mixed. They were such a dominant team throughout the regular season, but it didn\u2019t end with a title. The Warriors fell short after LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers came back from a 3-1 deficit in the NBA Finals to win a memorable Game 7 at Oracle Arena.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think just what an incredible accomplishment it was,\u201d Kerr said. \u201cBut because we didn\u2019t win the title, we\u2019ll probably forever remain underappreciated.\u201d<\/p>\n

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What\u2019s obvious about that 73rd win is just how dominant Curry was in the moment. He won his second unanimous MVP that season and punctuated his campaign with 46 points in 30 minutes against the Grizzlies on April 13, 2016. And yet, as he looks back, he admits that clinching the 73rd win that night was not what was top of mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was kinda mad,\u201d Curry told The Athletic.<\/i> \u201cBecause I wanted to watch Kobe\u2019s last game. We knew what was at stake, but I wanted to watch \u2026 I really wanted to watch Kob\u2019s last game. Then, when I got out, I heard what happened on the other side. I was like, \u201cOh my goodness. He scored 60? So I was excited, but also as a basketball fan, I felt like I got jipped at the same time. A great experience, though, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The matchup.
The stars involved.
The stakes.
The drama.
The history on the line.<\/p>\n

And then\u2026 what a shot from Curry.<\/p>\n

GSW vs. OKC, 10 years ago today\u2026 one of the greatest games in NBA history! pic.twitter.com\/la3Wsjlcia<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 NBA (@NBA) February 27, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

On the same night that Bryant was scoring 60 points in his retirement game, Curry hit his 400th 3-pointer, finishing with 402, another record that still stands.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt was great for Steph Curry to break 400 3s,\u201d Green said. \u201cIt was great for Kobe Bryant to get 60 points. It was fire.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Warriors, who won their first title of the Curry era the year before, rolled past the Houston Rockets and the Portland Trail Blazers in the first two rounds before being on the verge of elimination against Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference finals. Klay Thompson\u2019s iconic performance in Game 6 of that series \u2014 41 points and 11 3s \u2014\u00a0allowed the Warriors to go back to Oracle, where they closed out the series and advanced to a second-straight finals.<\/p>\n

Their Game 7 loss to Cleveland also changed the course of league history. Not only did it give James his first championship in Cleveland \u2014 it opened up the door for Durant to join the Warriors as a free agent later that summer. The move shifted the balance of power in the league and led to two more championships and three more Finals appearances, forming one of the most dominant trios ever with Durant alongside Curry and Thompson.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s funny,\u201d Kerr said. \u201cI get people who say now in hindsight do you wish you had not gone for (the regular-season record) because maybe the playoff run would have been different? The answer\u2019s no. There was no way I was telling any of those guys they weren\u2019t playing. But more importantly, I don\u2019t think winning 73 had anything to do with us losing in the playoffs. I think we played two great teams with Oklahoma City and Cleveland. There\u2019s no shame in going to Game 7 of the NBA Finals after winning 73 games. In fact, it\u2019s an incredible accomplishment. But what Cleveland did coming back was a phenomenal feat in its own right. So you tip your cap to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

There remains some lingering frustration that the Warriors weren\u2019t able to close out the Cavs and cement their place in history as the greatest team of all time, surpassing Michael Jordan\u2019s 1995-96 Chicago Bulls who went 72-10. But those closest to the group also recognize the rarity of what they accomplished.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere\u2019s nothing really to reconcile,\u201d Kerr said. \u201cIt\u2019s just you look back at it, there\u2019s some remorse, regret, but it\u2019s all part of sports. It\u2019s all part of all of us. You could also say we don\u2019t get Kevin Durant if we win that series. And I think that\u2019s probably accurate. So it played out how it played out. It\u2019s an incredible team, and it capped an incredible two-year run for that team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Green, who was famously suspended for Game 5 of the finals after kicking James below the belt the game before, echoed a similar sentiment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s an appreciation,\u201d Green said. \u201cBecause although we didn\u2019t win a championship, we continued to kill everybody \u2026 But that was kinda right in the middle, or maybe just the beginning. There\u2019s an appreciation because it continued to just run on.\u201d<\/p>\n

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What You Should Read Next<\/div>\n
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\n Any path through the Play-In Tournament for the Warriors is likely going to require a special defensive effort, led by Green.\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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To Green\u2019s point, the end of the 2015-16 season wasn\u2019t the finish line, but a new beginning. Durant signed and immediately delivered two NBA Finals MVPs over his next two seasons. There will always be an appreciation for what the Warriors did in his three years, but many Warriors personnel reflect on those first two years of their reign atop the NBA with a sense of pride given that they started a historic run in the league that few ever thought would happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, getting Kevin meant costing us Harrison (Barnes) and (Andrew Bogut),\u201d Kerr said. \u201cSo the team shifted quite a bit at that point. But those two years in my mind were basketball nirvana. Just an incredible group to coach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Does Green think that Durant ultimately signs with the Warriors if they had won their second-straight title that season?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great hypothetical,\u201d Green said. \u201cWho knows? Maybe. But what\u2019s for certain is we continued to beat the s\u2013 outta everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kerr has his own take on the situation, but doesn\u2019t dwell on it.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy guess is that he wouldn\u2019t have come,\u201d Kerr said. \u201cBut you\u2019d have to ask him, who knows? All these hypotheticals, you can play this game for every team, every championship team, every team that loses in the finals. There\u2019s all these what-ifs. And what-ifs dot the history of sports. If you\u2019re involved with it you really don\u2019t spend a lot of time trying to answer what-if, you just acknowledge the what-if and you move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Green said he has never asked Durant that question.<\/p>\n

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\u201cNope,\u201d Green said. \u201cBecause it\u2019s irrelevant. We continued to beat the s\u2014 out of everybody with Kev, so nope.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eventually after some internal debate, the Warriors chose to honor their 73-win season with a banner at their facility, listing every player\u2019s name from that team.<\/p>\n

\u201c(General manager) Bob (Myers) and I felt very strongly that it belonged up there,\u201d Kerr said. \u201cMy guess is that Draymond would probably tell you that it shouldn\u2019t be up there, but for one of the only times ever, we won over Draymond, I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kerr laughs now at the memory, but remains steadfast in the honor of what the group accomplished.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t even know if that\u2019s true,\u201d Kerr said. \u201cHe might actually say it does belong up there, I\u2019m guessing, but you have to acknowledge that. It\u2019s such an amazing accomplishment. One that will probably never be beaten \u2026 those guys on that banner deserve to be honored for life.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Draymond Green doesn\u2019t hesitate when he hears the question. Looking back on the Golden State Warriors\u2019 2015-16 season a decade later, a simple thought pops into the now 36-year-old forward\u2019s mind. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty easy,\u201d Green told The Athletic. \u201cWe beat the s\u2014 outta everybody.\u201d Monday marks the 10th anniversary of the night Green and the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-1879752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1879752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1879752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1879752\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1879752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1879752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1879752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}