The Golden State Warriors: 40 Games In

40 games into the season is a large enough sample size to tell whether or not a team is a contender or a pretender, and in the case of the Golden State Warriors, the answer couldn’t be any more clear.

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With a record of 34-6, the Warriors lead the Pacific Division by seven games, the Western Conference by 4 1/2 games and hold the NBA’s best record by a 1/2 game.

And they’ve done all this while playing in the loaded Western Conference, with David Lee missing over a month and with Andrew Bogut missing extended time as well.

The Warriors execute in all phases of the game, and thanks to the efforts of Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala amongst others, they do all of the little things as well.

Assistant Coach Ron Adams can’t get enough credit for the job he’s done coaching the defensive side of the ball.

Watching the Warriors play defense is nearly as fun as it is to watch them play offense. They know when to switch on screens and when not to, as the help defense rotates so smoothly and effectively.  All jump shots are closed out on, and several of the players can defend multiple positions.

Golden State ranks first in opponent field goal percentage (46.2 percent), second in blocks and fourth in steals. The offense gets a lot of the credit thanks to the Splash Brothers, but the defense is what makes this team a force to be reckoned with. Speaking of the Splash Brothers:

To put it simply, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson are ridiculous.  They’ve come a long way from being looked at as just a back-court tandem who can knock down the long ball. Each has elevated their game to another level this season, improving their passing, defending and ability to score at the rim.

Even Curry is putting people on posters now.

With LeBron James missing some time and not playing up to his normal standards, and with Kevin Durant also missing a big chunk of the season due to injury, Curry should be the leading MVP candidate on most everyone’s ballot.  If he’s not, you should probably change your ballot.

Curry is averaging 23.2 points per game, tied for sixth in the league, and he’s got the fewest minutes of anybody in the top 10.

He’s fifth in the league in assists at 8.1 per game and he leads the NBA in steals at 2.1 per game.  The steals number is nice to have to help credit Curry, but it doesn’t tell the whole story.  He’s improved substantially on the defensive end, so the team no longer has to try to mask his weakness there, and the team has thrived because of it.

The second of the Splash Brothers is having a tremendous season of his own. Thompson is 11th in the league in scoring, he should be an All-Star, and he’ll likely end up an All-NBA defender.

It’s hard to say whether or not the team would be better off with Kevin Love instead of Thompson, but considering how well the team is playing, it’s hard to see how that would be possible.

The best part about the Warriors is that they have a team full of guys who can have an entire column written about them, and the article would be filled with stats, positive traits and highlights.

Green could get his own novel and not enough praise could be given to the value he brings to the team.  Everyone from Bogut to Justin Holiday and Marreese Speights to Shaun Livingston brings something to the table.

Golden State is the deepest team in the league and they play to that strength. The Warriors don’t play that many close games and the bench will often increase the lead the starters built.

The Warriors lead the NBA in games decided by 10 points or more with 31, posting a record of 26-5 in those games.

Over the last 11 games specifically, the team is averaging 119.2 points per game, and is 10-1 over that stretch.

On the season, Golden State is averaging 110.7 points per game while allowing just 99, a differential of 11.7 that leads the league by a wide margin.

If you look at just about any category out there, the Warriors either are leading in it, or aren’t too far behind.

It’s hard to write about the Warriors and not sound like a homer but their play on the court and the numbers they put up support the argument that they are far and away the best team in the league.

So the James Harden‘s of the world can keep saying the Warriors “ain’t that good” and Marc Stein can keep ranking the Atlanta Hawks number one in his weekly Power Rankings.  That’s fine by us.

Next: Warriors Recent Success By The Numbers