Best 10-game starts in Warriors history

Throughout the course of its 75-plus-year existence, the Golden State Warriors franchise has had several fantastic 10-game starts to an NBA season, one of which turned into the greatest start and the greatest regular season in league history.

Unsurprisingly, the best 10-game start in Warriors history came at the opening of the 2015-16 campaign, going 10-0 en route to an NBA-record 73 regular-season wins.

While that remains the only 10-0 start in franchise history, the Dubs have also had a couple of 9-1 starts, including one during their days in Philadelphia.

Let's dive into a little more detail on the best starts in Warriors history, shall we?

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The Warriors won 24 straight games to open the 2015-16 season

Coming off their first NBA championship in four decades, the Warriors began the 2015-16 season without their head coach, as Steve Kerr missed the team's first 43 games while recovering from back surgery.

But that ultimately didn't matter.

With Luke Walton filling in, Golden State got off to a great start, besting the New Orleans Pelicans in their season opener. And their march toward history was on from there.

During their 10-0 start, the Warriors won by an average of 17.1 points per game, including a 50-point victory over the Memphis Grizzlies in game four. Their closest game in the opening stretch took place two days later, as they only beat the Los Angeles Clippers by four.

But Steph Curry & Co. certainly didn't stop at 10-0. On November 24, 2015, a 111-77 win over the Los Angeles Lakers moved them to 16-0, thus giving Golden State the best start in league history. The previous record of 15-0 was first set by the 1948-49 Washington Capitols and matched by the 1993-94 Houston Rockets.

The Warriors went on to a 24-0 start, finally taking their first loss on December 12, 2015, to the Milwaukee Bucks.

Golden State, of course, went 73-9 during the regular season but failed to win a second consecutive title, famously blowing a 3-1 lead to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals.

The Philadelphia Warriors went 9-1 to open the 1960-61 season

Coming off a loss the previous season in the Division Finals to the Boston Celtics, who went on to win their third title in four years and what turned out to be the second of eight straight, the then-Philadelphia Warriors kicked off their 1960-61 campaign with what was then the best 10-game start in franchise history.

Led by Wilt Chamberlain, who'd won both NBA Rookie of the Year and NBA MVP the year before, the Warriors won their first nine, a stretch that included a dominant 131-103 victory over the Celtics in Boston in game three.

Chamberlain scored 26 points and grabbed 27 rebounds that night at Boston Garden, filling the stat sheet just a touch more than rival Bill Russell, who posted 22 points and 26 boards for the Celtics.

The Warriors went on to win their next six, improving to 9-0, before taking a 107-105 loss on November 12, 1960, to the then-St. Louis Hawks, despite Wilt's 42-point, 24-rebound effort.

It was the first of four straight losses for Philadelphia, who ultimately went 46-33 in the regular season before being swept in the opening round of the postseason by the Syracuse Nationals. A few years later, of course, the Nationals became the Philadelphia 76ers, filling the void left in the City of Brotherly Love after the Warriors relocated to San Francisco in 1962.

Golden State started 9-1 in their title run in 2021-22

After missing the playoffs in consecutive seasons in 2019-20 and 2020-21, the Warriors got back on track in 2021-22.

Despite still being without the services of Klay Thompson, who missed the two seasons mentioned above with ACL and Achilles injuries, Steph Curry, Draymond Green, and Andrew Wiggins, all of whom made the NBA All-Star Game, got the team off to a 4-0 start.

After taking their first loss of the season in game five to the Grizzlies, another winning streak ensued, the fifth game of which was a 127-113 victory over the Hawks, thus giving Golden State its second 9-1 start in franchise history.

The Warriors ultimately got to 11-1 before taking their second loss. They were 29-9 when Thompson made his long-awaited return in early January and finished with a regular-season mark of 53-29 before going on to win their fourth championship in eight years, finally a modicum of revenge on the Celtics in the NBA Finals.