They were perfect until they weren't. Honestly, it's the only way to describe it.
When you talk about the Golden State Warriors 2016 team, you aren't just talking about a basketball roster; you're talking about a cultural shift that basically broke the NBA's brain for twelve months. It was a 73-win juggernaut that felt like it was playing a different sport than everyone else. Then, in a span of a few weeks in June, the aura of invincibility just... evaporated. It's the greatest regular season in the history of North American sports that didn't end with a trophy. That hurts. But even without the rings for that specific year, that squad changed how every single person—from middle schoolers to GMs—thinks about the game.
People forget how it started. Coming off the 2015 title, critics called them "lucky" because they avoided certain injuries in the playoffs. The Warriors heard that. They didn't just want to win; they wanted to embarrass the league.
73-9: The Math Behind the Madness
The number 72 used to be the "unbreakable" ceiling. The 1995-96 Chicago Bulls owned that record, and for two decades, nobody even sniffed it. Then came Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green.
The Golden State Warriors 2016 team started the season 24-0. Think about that for a second. They didn't lose a game until mid-December. They weren't just winning; they were winning by such massive margins that Curry was sitting out entire fourth quarters. He ended up with 402 three-pointers that year. To put that in perspective, nobody had ever even hit 300 before. He didn't just break the record; he moved the goalposts to a different stadium.
Steve Kerr was dealing with back issues, so Luke Walton coached the first half of that season. It almost didn't matter who was holding the clipboard because the chemistry was telepathic. You had Draymond Green acting as a 6'7" center who could pass like a point guard, which was basically a cheat code. It allowed them to run the "Death Lineup." When Andre Iguodala came in and Bogut sat down, the speed was too much for traditional teams to handle.
The pace was frenetic. The spacing was impossible. If you doubled Steph, Klay got an open look. If you stayed home on the shooters, Draymond got a 4-on-3 power play in the middle of the floor. It was basketball solved by geometry.
The Night in Oklahoma City
If you want one moment that sums up the entire regular season, it’s February 27, 2016. The Warriors were in OKC. The game went to overtime. Curry crossed half court with the score tied and about five seconds left. Most players look for a timeout or try to drive. Steph just pulled up from nearly 40 feet. Mike Breen’s "Bang! Bang!" call became the soundtrack of that era. That shot was the exact moment everyone realized the old rules of "good shots" vs. "bad shots" didn't apply to this group.
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They were playing with house money. Every night felt like a show.
What Really Happened in the 2016 Finals?
This is where the conversation gets heated. If you’re a Warriors fan, you point to the injuries and the suspension. If you’re a LeBron James fan, you point to the greatest comeback in sports history. Both things are true.
The Golden State Warriors 2016 team was up 3-1. History says the series is over at that point. No team had ever come back from 3-1 in the Finals. But then, the gears started grinding. Draymond Green got hit with a Flagrant 1 for the incident with LeBron in Game 4, which triggered an automatic one-game suspension because of his accumulated postseason points.
He missed Game 5.
Andrew Bogut went down with a knee injury. Suddenly, the "Death Lineup" had no rim protection. LeBron James and Kyrie Irving smelled blood. They both dropped 41 points in Game 5. Then Game 6 happened in Cleveland, and Steph got ejected after throwing his mouthpiece. You could see the frustration. The "joy" that defined their 73-win run was replaced by a visible, heavy pressure.
The Game 7 Wall
The final game was a slugfest. It wasn't pretty. The Warriors, the highest-scoring offense in the league, went scoreless for the final 4:39 of the game. That's the part that still haunts the Bay Area. Harrison Barnes struggled, going 3-of-10. Klay couldn't find the rhythm. And then, the Block. LeBron chasing down Iguodala is a play that will be replayed until the end of time.
Kyrie Irving's triple over Steph was the dagger. The Warriors lost 93-89.
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People love to say "73-9 don't mean a thing without a ring." It’s a catchy rhyme, but it’s sort of reductive. That team’s failure in the final four minutes of the season shouldn't negate the previous eight months of absolute dominance. They ran out of gas. Curry was clearly hampered by the Grade 1 MCL sprain he suffered against Houston in the first round—he lacked that explosive "shake" he had in February. But in the NBA, excuses don't get etched into trophies.
The Butterfly Effect of the 2016 Collapse
We have to talk about the fallout. If the Golden State Warriors 2016 team wins Game 7, Kevin Durant probably doesn't join them.
Think about that.
The loss created a vacuum. It made the greatest team ever (statistically) feel vulnerable. It made them aggressive in free agency. Draymond Green famously called KD from the Oracle Arena parking lot minutes after losing Game 7. If they win, they likely run it back with the same squad, maybe win another one or two, but they don't become the "supervillains" that defined the next three years.
The 2016 season was the peak of "Splash Brothers" purity. It was the last time they were the lovable underdogs who grew up together. After that, they became the empire.
Why the Analytics Community Still Obsesses Over Them
Ben Taylor of Thinking Basketball and other analysts often cite 2016 Steph Curry as the greatest offensive peak in history. His "Gravity"—the way defenders would panic and sprint toward him even when he didn't have the ball—created open layups for teammates who weren't even elite scorers.
- True Shooting Percentage: Steph's efficiency was 66.9%, which is absurd for a high-volume guard.
- Net Rating: The team's starters routinely blew teams out by 20 points per 100 possessions.
- The 3-Point Revolution: This team forced every other team to stop drafting traditional "bruiser" centers and start looking for "switchable" defenders.
If you weren't fast enough to guard the perimeter in 2016, the Warriors played you off the floor in six minutes. They basically retired a whole generation of slow-footed big men.
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Legacy and Lessons: What Most People Get Wrong
Most people think the 2016 Warriors "choked." That's the Twitter narrative.
In reality, they ran into a perfect storm of a legendary player (LeBron) playing his absolute best, a secondary star (Kyrie) hitting impossible shots, and a series of depth-depleting injuries. But what really killed them was the pursuit of the record.
Steve Kerr has since admitted that chasing 73 wins took a physical and mental toll. They were playing playoff-intensity basketball in March and April just to beat the Bulls' record. By the time they got to the Finals, they were emotionally spent. It's a cautionary tale for every dominant team since. You don't see teams selling out for regular-season records anymore. They "load manage." They rest stars. They prioritize being fresh for June.
The 2016 Warriors were the last team to truly go "all out" for 82 games.
How to Study the 2016 Warriors Today
If you're a coach or a serious fan, you don't look at the 2016 Warriors to see how to shoot threes. You look at them to see off-ball movement.
- Watch the "Split Action": When a player passes into the post and then two players on the perimeter screen for each other. It’s nearly impossible to guard without switching perfectly.
- Draymond's Short Roll: When teams trapped Steph on the pick-and-roll, he’d pass to Draymond at the free-throw line. From there, it was a 4-on-3. Draymond is perhaps the best ever at making that specific decision.
- The "Pre-switch": Defensively, they were geniuses. They would switch defenders before the offensive player even set the screen to avoid getting their weakest defender caught in a mismatch.
Actionable Insights for Basketball Junkies
To truly understand the impact of the Golden State Warriors 2016 team, you should do a few things. First, go back and watch the full fourth quarter of Game 6 against OKC in the Western Conference Finals. That's the "Klay Game" where he hit 11 threes. It shows the sheer resilience of that roster. Second, look at the shot charts from 2010 versus 2016. The "mid-range" basically disappears.
The 2016 Warriors didn't just win games; they provided the blueprint for the modern NBA. Every team you see today taking 40 threes a night is a direct descendant of that Steph Curry MVP season. They proved that a "jump-shooting team" could not only win but dominate.
Even without the ring, their DNA is in every game played today. They are the most influential "losers" in the history of the sport.
To dive deeper into the specific mechanics of their offense, analyze the "Elevator Door" screen plays they ran for Curry. It involves two big men closing a gap just as the shooter flies through, leaving the defender literally slammed behind a "closing door." Studying these sets reveals why their shooting wasn't just about talent—it was about meticulous spatial design.