“FILIPINO fans gave them (the Golden State Warriors) a stout heart, the Philippine sun soaked them with power,” said Danny Vivar on the phone the other day.
My California-based friend is among Warriors fans whose imaginations are now running wild that the team could win 34 games in a row.
The defending NBA champions never trailed and led by as many as 41 points during Wednesday’s 111-77 shellacking of the LA Lakers at Oracle Arena to notch a record setting 16th consecutive win to start a season.
With the victory, Golden State overtook the 1948 Washington Capitols and the 1993 Houston Rockets for the league’s longest unbeaten start. They made it 17 straight by beating Phoenix Friday.
They won’t go undefeated this season but the next historic number the Bay Area’s darlings might go after is the 33-game winning streak set by the 1971-72 edition of the Lakers.
They could also target the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls’ 72 wins.
After the Lakers game, Warriors superstar and top scorer Stephen Curry told the San Francisco Chronicle that 72 is “a special number… that 33 is a special number as well.”
The Warriors notched their 11th straight triumph on Nov. 14, escaping the scrappy Brooklyn Nets, 107-99, in overtime on Filipino Heritage Night at Oracle Arena.
During their shoot around for their encounter with the Nets, they became the first NBA team in history to wear limited edition Filipino Heritage shirts emblazoned with the Philippine sun around the team logo.
My buddy Danny, who has turned into a team seer swears the sun shirts and the shrieking adulation of Pinoy fans at Oracle and elsewhere in the NBA are sacramental properties that will continue to give the Warriors special powers—a talisman of sorts.
***
Kobe Bryant of the Lakers and Warriors interim head coach Luke Walton played together for LA from 2003 through 2012, and were members of the Hollywood team’s 2009 and 2010 championship seasons.
“That’s my guy man,” said Bryant of Walton. “I am beyond happy for him.”
Walton told the Chronicle it broke his heart to watch Kobe’s 1-14, four-point outing.
He said it “was definitely different seeing him (Bryant)” with a sub-par performance because fans “are all used to seeing him at a level that’s above most players in the NBA.”
“I’ve been playing for a long time,” Kobe said and appeared to be sending signals that this season could be his last in the NBA.