OAKLAND -- The Warriors have enjoyed many a successful week over the past four seasons, but none more incredible than that which was concluded Sunday night.
Their 139-115 rout of the Washington Wizards punctuated an eight-day stretch during which the Warriors played five games and won them all.
This was not just five games, but five games against teams destined for the playoffs.
Four games against teams holding top-four seeds in their respective conferences.
Two of the games came on the road, against their most dangerous Western Conference competition, on back-to-back nights.
"Honestly, when you're looking at a schedule like that, I always look at like, ‘Man, we want to go 5-0,' " Draymond Green said. "To go 3-and-2 in that stretch is a success.
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"But to really complete it and go 5-0 . . . you're talking five playoff teams that we just played. And to win them all, two tough ones on the road, that says a lot about where we are."
The treacherous stretch began March 26 with a 106-94 win over the Grizzlies, who had beaten the Warriors twice this season.
The Warriors left for Houston the next day, and beat the third-place Rockets 113-106 last Tuesday night. They then flew to San Antonio, arriving early Wednesday morning and found the resolve to overcome a 22-point deficit and take a 110-98 victory over the second-place Spurs, who have been stalking them for weeks.
After winning those three games in four nights, coming home for a rematch against the Rockets, followed by the formidable Wizards, a top-four seed in the Eastern Conference, was almost like rolling downhill.
The result was two more victories -- against four teams that entered the week with a combined 6-2 record against the Warriors this season.
It's been a great run," Klay Thompson said. "We all just want to finish the season on a high note, carry some momentum going into the playoffs."
Thompson surely has done his part, averaging 24.4 points, on 51.1-percent shooting, 47.1 percent from beyond the arc, over the five games.
Stephen Curry was even more prolific and nearly as accurate, averaging 29.2 points, on 51.0-percent shooting from the field and 46.3 percent from deep.
"It's a strong showing," Curry said of the past eight days. "It was a tough task, obviously, all playoff teams and teams you have to execute well on both ends of the floor if you want to beat them. You have to play a full 40 minutes if you want to beat them, and we were able to do that."
The Warriors entered this period with a six-game win streak and ended it with an 11-game streak.
They entered with a two-game lead over the Spurs and exited with a 3.5-game lead, needing to win only three of their final five games to clinch the No. 1 seed in the postseason.
"We want to bottle this up and keep adding pennies to the jar as we go down the stretch of the season," Curry said. "Keep feeling really good about ourselves and build momentum as we go into playoffs with five games left."
