2014–15_Golden_State_Warriors_season
2014–15 Golden State Warriors season
Professional basketball team season (won NBA championship)
The 2014–15 Golden State Warriors season was the 69th season of the franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA), and their 53rd in the San Francisco Bay Area.
On May 6, 2014, head coach Mark Jackson was fired and was replaced with Steve Kerr.[1][2] Eight days later on May 14, 2014, the Golden State Warriors signed Steve Kerr to a reported five-year, $25 million deal to become the team's new head coach.[3] It was the first head coaching job for Kerr, with a prior NBA background as a five-time NBA champion guard who set an all-time career record for accuracy in three-point shooting (.454). Kerr's extensive background experience also entailed his service as president and general manager for the Phoenix Suns basketball team from 2007 to 2010 and operating as an NBA broadcast analyst for Turner Network Television (TNT). The team also signed point guard Shaun Livingston[4] and guard Leandro Barbosa[5] during the off-season.
Under first-year head coach and former NBA player Steve Kerr, the Warriors began the season 10–2, the best start in franchise history. They went 8–1 on the road in November, their second perfect road trip in franchise history, and first since 1978. Between November 13 and December 14, the Warriors won a franchise record 16 games in a row, improving to 21–2 on the season, before the record was snapped by the Memphis Grizzlies. On January 21, the team established a new franchise record of 17 straight home wins, extending the record to 19 before losing to Derrick Rose-led Chicago Bulls on January 27. With their win against the Portland Trail Blazers on March 24, they clinched the Pacific Division for the first time since the 1975–76 season, also tying the franchise record for road wins in a season with 24. Golden State finished with a road record of 28–13, and a franchise home win–loss record of 39–2, tied for second all-time best home record. On March 28, the Warriors won their 60th game and clinched the best record in the Western Conference and set a franchise record for regular season wins, surpassing the previous win of 59 games set by them during the 1975-76 season.
The Warriors finished the 2014–15 regular season garnering a league-best record of 67–15, setting a Warriors record for wins while beating their previous best record of winning 59 games in the 1975–76 season.[6] The team finished with a home record of 39–2, the second-best in NBA history. The team ranked first in defensive efficiency for the season and second in offensive efficiency, barely missing the mark that the Julius Erving-led Sixers achieved by being first in both offensive and defensive efficiency. On May 4, 2015, Stephen Curry was named the 2014–15 NBA Most Valuable Player, the first Warrior since Wilt Chamberlain in 1960 to be bestowed with the honour. Finishing the season 67–15, a new franchise record for wins in a season, the team surpassed their previous best record of winning 59 games in the 1975–76 season. They are the tenth NBA team to win 67 games in a season, with Golden State having reached the 2015 NBA Finals and defeated LeBron James-led the Cleveland Cavaliers 4–2, to earn their first title in 40 years, and the fourth in franchise history.[7][8] The team amassed a remarkable count of 83 victories throughout the season, ranking as the third highest win total ever achieved by an NBA team, encompassing both regular season and playoff matches with a sterling record of 83–20.
The Warriors swept the Anthony Davis-led New Orleans Pelicans in the first round of the playoffs, dismantled the Marc Gasol-led Memphis Grizzlies in six games in the second round, and dispatched the James Harden-led Houston Rockets in five games in the Western Conference Finals. The team advanced to their first NBA Finals since 1975, finding themselves pitted up against the LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers. In the ensuing years of the Warriors' successive reign in establishing themselves as the NBA's most dominant force, the Cavaliers emerged as their perennial opponents in each of the subsequent three successive NBA Finals, sparking a fiercely contested league rivalry that developed and lasted between the two teams over the next 3 Finals series matchups. After Golden State fell behind 2–1 in the series, head coach Steve Kerr gave swingman Andre Iguodala his first start of the season, replacing center Andrew Bogut in Game 4. The Warriors' small lineup (which came to be known as the Death Lineup) helped turn the series around.[9] Making their first NBA Finals appearance since 1975, the Warriors defeated the Cavaliers in six games, and Iguodala was named Finals MVP.[10] It was the teams first NBA championship title win in 40 years and their fourth in franchise history.[11][12]
The team registered a grand total of 83 victories throughout the season, a commendable achievement that ranks as the third highest in NBA history where they went an aggregate total of 83–20 encompassing both regular season and playoff matches. Moreover, Kerr became the first rookie head coach to win an NBA title since Pat Riley during the 1981–82 season.[13]
Numerous Warriors players set individual records over the course of the season. Stephen Curry won the NBA Most Valuable Player Award, the first Warriors player to win since Wilt Chamberlain in the 1959–60 NBA season, when the franchise was still located in Philadelphia. He also broke his own NBA record for made three-pointers in a season of 272, finishing with 286. On January 23, 2015, Klay Thompson broke the NBA record for most points scored in a quarter with 37, finishing the game with a career high 52 points. On April 15, head coach Steve Kerr won his 63rd game with the Warriors and broke the NBA record for most wins by a rookie head coach. Curry and Thompson, dubbed the "Splash Brothers", broke the single-season record for most three-pointers made by a pair of teammates. Both also made the All-Star team, Curry as a starter and Thompson as a reserve. Together, they sank 525 three-pointers over the course of the season, smashing the prior NBA record of 484 set by themselves during the 2013–14 season.
