By Ben Leonard
Follow @ben___leonard

Great basketball teams know how to rebound — from a tough loss and on the glass alike. Although its hard to revolutionize the former, the Warriors have revolutionized the latter, winning with a small lineup game in and game out. After a sound 136–111 win over the Portland Trailblazers to rebound from their first home loss of the season, can the revolutionary Warriors make basketball history and break the ’95-’96 Chicago Bulls vaunted record?

They certainly looked the part on Sunday, showing resiliency after that heartbreaking loss to Boston on Friday. One potential record lost — a perfect home slate, never before accomplished — didn’t discourage Golden State, but rather served to motivate them after a shaky first quarter. Portland got off to a quick start, dropping 37 points in the first, but Golden State seemed to keep its larger goal in mind, and took it into second gear. The energy picked up and the defense tightened up, allowing just 19 points in the second quarter to give Golden State a 63-56 halftime lead.

The offense looked like that of a team on a mission, with three players scoring above 20 points. Joining the usual suspects, the Splash Brothers (60 points), in that company was Draymond Green, scoring 22 points. Stephen Curry had 39, which seems routine nowadays.It was a well-rounded offensive performance (56.8 FG%, 60.0 3-PT FG%) —  what we’ve come to expect from these Warriors. If they keeping playing like this, watch out, record books. You’re in for a change.

However resilient and dominant they were, common sense says that who you’re playing matters just as much as how you’re playing when predicting future performance. Sure, the Warriors only need to win four out of five games to break the record, but it makes things a little more problematic when you take into account that they’re playing the Spurs twice, once on the road.

According to ESPN’s Basketball Power Index, the Warriors have over a 78% chance of beating all three of their remaining opponents not from San Antonio. They start with a home game against Minnesota, which should be chalked up as a win (94% chance of win per BPI), barring apocalyptic catastrophe. Then they take on San Antonio at Oracle Arena, a venue where Golden State routed the Spurs earlier this season, giving them a 59% chance of winning. Next, a road-home with Memphis (78% and 91%, resptively) that sandwiches the next meeting with the Spurs on the road should both go down as wins. Essentially, unless the Warriors let their guard down, they need to take only one of two from San Antonio.

The Warriors have a unique way of willing themselves to win, a heart and chemistry unmatched in today’s NBA of super teams and super egos. It’s hard to see a team of this caliber and this makeup dropping both games to San Antonio, or one and a massive upset in one of the other three games. This record means too much to this team for them to let it slip away. As we saw tonight, when the Warriors want to take it into a second gear, they do. Nothing can stop them. Like it or not, losing twice in five games just won’t happen to these Warriors.