OAKLAND -- That the Warriors lost three consecutive games in the 2016 NBA Finals was shocking enough, given that no team had ever experienced such ignominy, but it's downright bewildering considering their high aptitude for self-correction.
No team in league history has bounced back quicker or with more consistency, which is why the Warriors have managed to go a record 137 regular-season games without losing two in a row.
They see what went wrong and they fix it. Immediately.
"We really rally around that next game after a loss to try to use it as a short-term goal," Stephen Curry said Tuesday. "That's the only thing that matters, is to win a game tomorrow. So whatever it's going to take to get that job done, we've got to be ready for it."
After a 109-106 loss last Saturday at Sacramento, the Warriors for the eighth time this season face the possibility of consecutive losses. Chicago Bulls, who come to Oracle Arena Wednesday night, don't want the streak to reach 138 games.
"It's really a remarkable streak; I don't know how much longer it's going to last," coach Steve Kerr said. "I'm not trying to jinx us, but it's an incredible feat."
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The Warriors last lost two straight in April 2015, when they were knocked off at San Antonio and at New Orleans.
As for three in a row, that would date back to November 2013.
Most members of this team barely know what a losing streak feels like.
The vibe now is very different than that which existed even five or six years ago, and Curry -- the longest-tenured member of the team -- knows this better than anyone.
"We used to have team meetings every other week, just trying to figure stuff out -- not so much about how we're going win championships but how we're going to win games," said Curry, drafted in 2009.
"It's a different mindset. It definitely makes you appreciate what we're talking about now. We don't lose two in a row. It's ‘Why did y'all only win by five, versus 30?' "
Properly protective of the streak, the Warriors spent the past two days studying video, acknowledging mistakes and then trying to apply the lessons in practice. It's the recover-mode drill they've experienced 32 times since over the past 215 games.
The Warriors' 32 losses over past two-plus regular seasons are exactly equal to that of the Kings so far this season.
"The competitive nature of this group over the last few years, not wanting lose two in a row, saying we don't do that, that we have to correct the problem right away, all of that really makes a difference," Draymond Green said. "The No. 1 thing always has to be the focus, though. You have to lock back in immediately and we've done a good job of that."
Kerr points to the roster and the determination of those who take the floor. There are, with the offseason addition of Kevin Durant, four All-Stars. There were three All-Stars last season, as well as 2015 NBA Finals MVP Andre Iguodala.
"First and foremost, it's talent," Kerr said. "But on top of that, it's competiveness. You don't get through almost two years without losing back-to-back games without being super competitive."
Which is why the memories of last June, of The Finals, during which it went wrong like never before, sit in their collective gut like a shard of glass.
"You can still learn lessons and get punched in the face and have to look at yourself in the mirror every once in a while as a team even when you're winning, if you hold yourself to a certain standard every single game," Curry said.
"With the foundation we've built about how we play and how we win games, it's hard to get off that wagon too far before you can get back on track."
