One team started the season with a franchise record 14 game win streak, while the other shattered an NBAA record with the best start to a season ever. One team wasn’t even expected to make the playoffs this season while the other team is a defending champ. No matter what the circumstances were, both teams astounding play took the media by storm.
Aside from their pro bowl quarterback and stellar Defense, What makes the Carolina panthers particularly unique in the NFL is the fact that their locker room puts personalities on parade. Head coach Ron Rivera has told his team to keep their personality. Rivera encourages his players to keep dancing during warm ups at practice, keep playing music in the locker room, keep mouthing lyrics to an Adele song, keep celebrating touchdowns and interceptions and never lose yourself. “There’s a great saying: respect your opponent and believe in yourself,” Rivera said following the Panthers win over the cowboys on thanksgiving.
The Warriors have a superior amount of roster depth when compared to most NBA teams, an essential reason for their success last year and so far this season, however their main reason for success lays on one players shoulders. Stephen Curry was the 2014 NBA MVP and is on pace for another one this year. Not only is curry on pace for another MVP caliber season, he’s on pace to break almost every three point shooting record in the NBA.
Curry is on pace to become just the seventh player to reach .500 shooting from the field, .400 from three point range and .900 from the free throw line for an entire season. Of the 10 seasons in which 50/40/90 was achieved, Curry already has more three-point attempts (289) than five of those seasons. Not only that, but 34 percent of his total shots are three-pointers, six percentage points higher than the highest 50/40/90 season (Steve Nash in 2007-08). He’s on pace to break George McCloud’s record for most three-point attempts in an NBA season … by 200 shots. Yeah, that’s not a typo. Curry is projected to shoot over 2,500 shots this season, which would be the third highest in NBA history and 600 more shots than the highest 50/40/90 season (Larry Bird with 1,909).
Many aspects have attributed to the success of the panthers and warriors this season, two of the most important are indeed unexpected and mind boggling.
