SAN FRANCISCO — Steph Curry in MVP form. Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala throwing down breakaway dunks. Devastating third-quarter runs that debilitate the opponent while driving the Bay Area fans into a frenzy. If you squint with a reasonable amount of force, you might just mistake this season’s version of the Golden State Warriors for the 2014-15 bunch that announced themselves to the basketball world with an NBA title.
But no matter how raucous the Chase Center crowd gets and how fun the atmosphere becomes, make sure you keep the Oracle Arena comparisons out of your mouth.
“It’s an unfair comparison to Oracle, honestly,” Curry said earlier this week. “We’re trying to put ourselves in position where we’re winning games, protecting home court, where we can develop a new identity of what this building means in terms of home-court advantage. We had three championships in that building. We want to try to get one in here, but it’s a work in progress.”
Similarities between this year’s Warriors and the championship dynasty aside, there is a distinct cohesiveness and confidence to this group that began in training camp and has carried all the way through their league-best 11-1 start. Friday’s matchup with the Bulls was supposed to be a test — a barometer against one of the NBA’s best after a cupcake schedule. Sure, the Bulls were without All-Star center Nikola Vucevic, but they were methodically transmuted into delectables during a thorough 119-93 Golden State victory, in which they blitzed Chicago to grow their six-point halftime lead to a laughable 24 at the conclusion of the third quarter.
Just like the good old days.
Considered one of the biggest mysteries heading into the NBA season due to the uncertain status of Klay Thompson, the Warriors couldn’t have asked for a better
