The normal routine at the end of 76ers’ practices is that before any players meet with the media, Brett Brown is first person to speak. On Friday, he was the last, and for understandable reason. “When you have to play Golden State, you come out of a place like, how do we guard that?,” said the third-year head coach, alluding to the task that he and the Sixers will confront over the weekend. On Saturday, the Warriors, reigning champions of the NBA and current holders of a league-best 42-4 record, make their only stop of the season in South Philadelphia. As convincing of a run as Golden State put together last year en route to its first title since 1975, the Warriors have been even more dominant this season, positioning themselves to go down as one of the most complete teams (if not the best) of all time. For starters, Golden State, through 46 games, is already one win better than the 1995-1996 Chicago Bulls, which finished that campaign with an NBA- record 72 victories. Digging a little bit deeper into some numbers, the Warriors have so far outscored opponents by 12.7 points per game. If the season were to end today, that figure would represent the highest margin of victory ever posted. With an offensive rating of 115.0 points per 100 possessions, Golden State is 0.6 points off the league record, manufactured by the 1986-1987 Los Angeles Lakers, that season’s champs. On the opposite end of the floor, the Warriors’ 102.3 defensive rating is only 0.9 points shy of the top all-time number that they produced last year. Their present +12.7 differential between the two ratings, however, is in line to make history. So yes, given the rarified air into which Golden State has already skyrocketed this season, it’s reasonable that on Friday, Brown might have been that much more preoccupied than usual. As for where to begin versus the well-rounded Warriors, Brown said, “It’s going to start with just trying to not turn the ball over, and have to deal with that first phase of their offense [that] is lethal. The first three seconds are as dangerous as any part of the shot clock. If we can get shots, and you make ’em or you don’t, but to turn it over is just going to be punished more than any team that we have played, so I would start there.”Brown sat next to Gregg Popovich on the San Antonio Spurs’ bench for 12 seasons. Four of those seasons yielded NBA titles. A fifth resulted in another berth to the Finals. So, to say that Brown has known and seen championship, dynasty-creating basketball would be a fair statement. But, even he admits he’s never seen anything quite like what Golden State’s doing right now. “It’s a completely different style,” Brown said Friday at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. “Even with the great teams that I’ve been lucky to be on, you just to right immediately to it’s a whole different style, and now they’re just playing that offensive style the best I’ve ever seen out of any team since I have been coaching. They’re so potent offensively, kind of from all positions.”In terms of traditional statistical measures, Golden State ranks first in the NBA this season with an average of 115.1 points per game. The Warriors are first in three-point field goals per game (12.8), and perimeter accuracy as well (42.6 percent). Brown has been impressed less with what Golden State has done, and more with how the team has done it. “Let’s just start with they’re unselfish,” said Brown. The Warriors will send three players – Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green – to the 2016 NBA All-Star Game. “They really play together. And then, you go to they can pass. They have gifted, elite passers. And then you go to the end of unselfish, and then at the end of the pass, they have some of the best shooters ever to play our sport. You take those ingredients, and it equals as a good an offensive team as we’ve all ever seen.” Their defensive ability hasn’t gone ignored by Brown either.”They really tick both sides of the box,” said Brown, making particular note of Golden State’s proficiency in several advanced statistical categories. “Their defense sets it all up. It’s important to remind everybody of that, they guard.” While keenly aware that the Warriors compete with an “invincible” aura, Brown has not lost sight of the fact – and it is a fact – that Golden State has lost four times since winning the opening 24 games on its schedule. Milwaukee was the first team to beat the Warriors, doing so on December 12th. Golden State’s second setback occurred 18 days later, at Dallas. Then, within the past two weeks, the Warriors came up short at Denver, and, just 14 days ago, again at Detroit. All of the Warriors’ defeats have been on the road. “We think the attention to the three-point line, especially in the first phase of shot clocks, is going to end up important,” said Brown, talking defensive strategy. “The recognition that nobody has anybody, we all have everybody. You’re not going to have to go back to your man. You can be cross-matched a lot. They just run hard and wide. The common denominator with those losses is that they’ve done a good job in the first few seconds of a shot clock tied into they’ve found their shooters.”
With a sellout home crowd to be on hand at The Center, the Sixers are eager for Saturday’s 5:00 PM EST challenge.”Everybody’s excited,” Nerlens Noel said. “Obviously, they’re a good team. We’re coming in confident. The mindset is that we have to come in here and play hard, and it’s going to start on the defensive end, so everybody’s feeling strong about that.”
Regardless of how strong the Golden State Warriors have been.
