Forgive the Milwaukee Bucks if they don’t remember the St. Louis Maroons, who until last week had achieved the best start to a season in professional sports history.
The Maroons’ 21 consecutive victories out of the chute came in the Union Association – a forerunner to Major League Baseball – in 1884.
The Bucks do, however, have a keen awareness of the Golden State Warriors, the team that eclipsed the Maroons’ blazing start when they hoisted their 2015-16 NBA record to 23-0 with their 131-123 win over the host Indiana Pacers on Tuesday.
Dating back to last season, the Warriors have won 28 consecutive games, which ties them with the 2012-13 Miami Heat for the second-most in NBA annals behind the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers’ 33.
As any astute Bucks fan knows, the 71-72 Lakers’ record streak came to a screeching halt on Jan. 9, 1972, at the Milwaukee Arena, when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Oscar Robertson and friends engineered a 120-104 Bucks victory over Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlain & Co.
Golden State’s reigning NBA champions will visit the Boston Celtics on Friday, then make their lone appearance of the season at the BMO Harris Bradley Center at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo was asked if he would enjoy the challenge of denying the Warriors’ pursuit of history if that opportunity presents itself.
“Yes,” Antetokounmpo responded. “Hopefully they’ll still have the streak. I can’t wait to play the champs.
“But we’ve just got to focus on each game.”
Antetokounmpo admires what the Warriors have accomplished.
“They’re doing a great job of playing together and playing hard,” he said. “They’ve taken every game seriously.
“Besides being a player, I’m a fan of the game. Golden State is a fun team to watch, especially when they’re making 3s from all angles and all over the court.”
The Warriors are averaging an NBA-best 115.8 points per game – 7.3 more than the Oklahoma City Thunder, who rank second.
Golden State leads the league in field-goal percentage (.496), 3-point shooting percentage (.438), and total rebounds (1,062), and they have dished out 665 assists – a mind-boggling 107 more than the second-ranking Sacramento Kings.
“They’re playing really well,” Bucks center Greg Monroe said. “I’m more focused on what we’ve got going on, but they’re a great story. They’re doing something very historic.
“It’s impressive. I don’t know if anybody was expecting them to get off to this hot of a start. I think people expected them to play well, but I don’t think anyone saw this coming.”
Bucks swingman Khris Middleton is impressed at Golden State’s relentlessness.
“They’re not satisfied with winning the last championship,” Middleton said. “They want more. They’re playing very well offensively and defensively, and they have one of the best players in the world in Steph Curry, who’s playing at a high level.
“I haven’t seen too many of their games. I’ve seen a lot of the highlights, though. It’s fun to watch the way they move the ball from side to side, and some of the crazy shots Steph Curry and Klay Thompson hit. It’s great basketball, man. It’s high-paced and entertaining to watch.”
Curry leads the Association in scoring (32.2 ppg) and true shooting percentage (.707) and has made a league-high 119 3-pointers – 52 more than anyone else.
“As a point guard, being able to watch a guy like Stephen Curry and what he does with the ball, it’s something that’s fun to watch,” the Bucks’ Tyler Ennis said. “The crazy part is his ceiling seems to keep climbing.
“He’s coming off an MVP season, but he just continues to get better. Not everybody can do that. He’s having another MVP season. Thinking about competing against him really gets me excited. I’m looking forward to it.”
Bucks forward Johnny O’Bryant has a great deal of respect for Curry and what he has accomplished, too.
“The way Curry is playing is unbelievable,” O’Bryant said. “You have to give him a lot of credit as one pro player to another. He’s really playing well and leading that team.
“It’s exciting to watch the type of things Steph is doing. He’s playing at such a high level.”
Steve Kerr, who piloted Golden State its first NBA title since 1978 in his first season as a head coach at any level, started 7-foot former Bucks center Andrew Bogut in the middle for early portion of the season.
Kerr began starting a streamlined, centerless team late last season, which didn’t surprise Middleton.
“Seeing them use the smaller lineups hasn’t surprised me,” he said. “It worked for them last year in the playoffs, so why change anything? They’ve played Draymond Green at the ‘4’ and ‘5’ at times. That has worked well for them.”
Golden State continued to employ that strategy during the Warriors’ playoff run.
Luke Walton, who is filling in for Kerr while he recovers from back surgery, has continued to utilize a “small-ball lineup” that opponents have tried unsuccessfully to counter.
“A lot of teams are playing that way now – us included,” Ennis said. “A lot of guys are using smaller guys who are able to rebound at their positions. They’re putting guys out there who can play multiple positions.
O’Bryant, like Ennis, believes the Warriors have become trend-setters.
“I think since they started playing small ball, it has inspired a lot of other teams to try to do the same,” O’Bryant said. “It’s something they’ve been very successful with, so why stop it?”
The Bucks plan to give it their best shot Saturday.
