The Golden State Warriors are really good at basketball. They have started the season with 22 consecutive victories, which is a record unto itself -- across all four major professional sports leagues.
Oh, they're also the defending champions, and appear to be intent on becoming back-to-back champions when the NBA's long journey into June finally comes to an end.
But when it comes to putting their winning streak in historical perspective, it becomes even more complicated than defending Stephen Curry.
Is their winning streak officially at 22, meaning they're 11 games away from tying the Lakers' record for longest in-season winning streak -- 33 games back in 1971-72?
Yes.
Is it 26, including their four-game winning streak at the end of the 2014-15 regular season, meaning they're seven games shy of tying the Lakers' mark for longest winning streak regardless of how many seasons it encompasses?
Yes.
The NBA recognizes both as official records: longest streak in a single regular season and longest streak across multiple regular seasons. So here's how it works: If the Warriors beat the Pacers on Tuesday night, they'll tie the Miami Heat for the second-longest regular season winning streak at 27 games. (Miami's streak was in 2012-13.)
If they continue winning all the way through a Finals rematch with the Cleveland Cavaliers on Christmas Day, they'll tie the Lakers for the longest regular season winning streak at 33.
But if you want to make the distinction that the record that matters should be the one that only encompasses one regular season, the Warriors need five more wins to catch the Heat and 11 more to catch the Lakers. In theory, they'd hit those marks on Dec. 18 against Milwaukee and on Jan. 2 against Denver.
The league record book offers no ruling on which record is more impressive or which should be the one the public recognizes. In the eyes of the NBA, each is a distinct record.
One thing the Warriors' streak is definitely not is a 25-game winning streak, dating to their three consecutive victories to close out the 2015 Finals against Cleveland. In every sport I'm aware of, there's no connection between regular season streaks and records and postseason streaks and records.
It all seems quite silly, considering that the Warriors' overall streak is officially recognized as 26 games, yet five postseason losses separate their four-game winning streak that closed out the 2014-15 regular season and their 22-0 record this year. I guess it just speaks to how rare it is for a team to go this deep into a regular season without losing a game. The Warriors aren't only crushing everyone's soul, they're causing us to wonder whether the record books should be rewritten.
