OAKLAND — So much for the Los Angeles Lakers being a trap game.
The Warriors, playing their fifth game in seven nights, took all of the drama out of the game, destroying the Lakers 111-77 and taking the sizzle off their history-making 16th consecutive win.
These Warriors are so good, they were boring. On tired legs and playing a vastly inferior foe, they still couldn’t lose. Didn’t even come close.
The Lakers are not a good basketball team. But what shined most was just how good the Warriors are — so good that Tuesday’s effort was as ho-hum a win as it gets.
So good, they made Kobe Bryant look like Willie Mays stumbling in center field.
“I could’ve scored 80,” Bryant said after missing 13 of his 14 shots. “It wouldn’t have made a damn difference.”
So good, the candles on 16-0 were still flickering and the conversation had already switched to them winning 33.
“Anything is possible,” Luke Walton said. “We’re getting ready to go on seven-game, 13-day road trip. So is it likely? No. But am I going to say it’s not possible? Of course not.”
We’re witnessing history, but it’s deeper than the latest notch on their belt. The 16-0 could be just a precursor because they have proved that on most nights, if they want to win, they can.
The Warriors are much closer to a machine than a normal great team. They don’t seem to be thwarted by the usual obstacles of scheduling, fatigue, cold streaks, hot games by the opponent.
Their talent, depth and hunger will exceed most obstacles. Which means not only is 33 possible, but the bigger number is possible: 72.
The Chicago Bulls hold the record for most wins in a season. And the way the Warriors are looking, that mark is very much in play.
They know it, too, which is why they weren’t popping champagne bottles in the locker room. During the winning streak last year, the excitement in the locker room was palpable.
“Stop trying to say winning is getting old,” Draymond Green said with a smile on his face when asked about the blasé demeanor of the Warriors. “At the end of the day, it’s (just) 16 regular-season games. But I didn’t say winning gets old.”
Walton said the Warriors will lose. At some point they will get cold. At some point the tough schedule will catch up with them. At some point, he will start resting players to preserve their legs for the long haul.
But that is normalcy talking. That is a prognostication based on what usually happens. These Warriors aren’t usual.
And one of the greatest of all time said their biggest foe is themselves.
“The challenge for them is going to be conflict,” Bryant explained. “You gotta have some kind of internal conflict thing, keeps the team on edge. Because if not it becomes so easy you just kind of coast, you kind of fall into a malaise. Draymond seems to really be the guy that drives the team every day in practice. So they’re going to need to have some type of challenge internally to push themselves.”
The 16-win challenge is done. And the loudest ovation of the night went to Jason Richardson, who was honored, and Kenny Smith, whose video congratulating the Warriors on breaking the record set by his Houston Rockets was played at the end of the game.
The Warriors, though, were never on the 16-0 challenge. They’ve been on that build-a-dynasty challenge. And the likelihood is they will knock down a few more milestones on the way.
“If we get to 31,” Walton said, “then we’re going for 33.”
Read Marcus Thompson II’s blog at blogs.mercurynews.com/thompson. Contact him at mthomps2@bayareanewsgroup.com. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ThompsonScribe.
