Klay Thompson, Warriors COO slip ’73-9′ note inside fortune cookie
The Golden State Warriors might not go out of their way to discuss their chances of breaking the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls’ all-time mark for most wins in a single season, but that doesn’t mean the prospect of finishing with a record better than 72-10 isn’t on their minds … or, apparently, in their desserts.
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From Joe Eskenazi of San Francisco magazine:
At a Chinese New Year-themed celebration in Chinatown [last week], throngs of media and city politicos packed into the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory to meet and greet Warriors president Rick Welts and his employee, [Klay] Thompson, who was bedecked in the team’s Chinese-language slate jersey. As advertised in the press release, Thompson did indeed “participate in making traditional Chinese fortune cookies.” But the cookies he made were not at all traditional.
When an event guest, former [San Francisco] Chronicle reporter Tanya Schevitz, informed Welts that members of the general public can create their own fortunes for the cookies, he took matters into his own hands. The Warriors boss penned “73–9” on a small, rectangular slip and handed it to Thompson, who took it, smiling. The guard proceeded to make a cookie stuffed with that fortune.
The magazine captured Welts making the handoff of the aspirational/kidding-on-the-square missive to his All-Star shooting guard:
Welts copped to the “Secret”-style scribbling in a Tuesday interview with CBS Sports Radio, though he noted that talking about topping 72 is less his team’s speed than surreptitiously stuffing slips of paper into a snack.
“I think the record of 72 wins is the unspoken thing out there,” Welts said, according to Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group. “I think not speaking it is more in tune with the way our team does it.”
And yet, with the Warriors entering Wednesday’s road game against the Washington Wizards at a league-best 44-4 — tied with the 1966-67 Philadelphia 76ers for the best record through 48 games in NBA history, and one game ahead of the ’95-’96 Bulls’ pace — it’s becoming more and more difficult for them to avoid discussing it … if only because we keep discussing it. From FOX Sports’ Brett Pollakoff’s interview earlier this week with Warriors superstar Stephen Curry:
We talk about it because we’re asked about it, mostly. We’re not afraid to address it and understand the opportunity we have, obviously with the 24-0 start […]
So we know where we are, but it’s really hard to fast-forward to April and really kind of get your mind to where, we’re 28 games from tying the record. It just makes it sink in how hard and how special that accomplishment was for the Bulls. We’re obviously worried about what happens in the playoffs, and being healthy and full-strength playing our best come April 16 or whenever our last game is.
But if we have an opportunity to go for it, we’ll go for it. Because how many chances are you going to get to be a team that passes that record, and obviously everybody’s still talking about the 95-96 Bulls — one, because of their record, and two, because they finished it off with a championship. We want to be able to do both, too.
Curry reiterated that desire to make a late-season push if 73’s within reach during a chat with ESPN.com’s Zach Lowe:
We’re gonna hopefully stay in the moment, and focus on how we get better. Our priority is health, and playing our best in the playoffs. But if we wind up in late March or early April with a shot at it, there’s not many opportunities you’ll have to go at 73.
I wonder if [Warriors head coach and ’95-’96 Bulls guard] Kerr’s friends from the Bulls will ask him to sabotage it.
Nah. He’s been all over the map when it comes to his basketball career. For him to be the coach of the team that broke that record would mean a lot to him. The ultimate goal is obviously win the championship, but 73 wins — there’s a reason people still talk about that 1995-96 Bulls team. They accomplished both. That would be special.
As special — maybe — as Welts and Thompson’s one-of-one fortune cookie, which, according to Eskenazi, might have left the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory with Klay. Here’s hoping he can hold off until the end of the season before cracking that bad boy open; sure, it’ll be pretty stale by June, but one mustn’t tempt the hands of fate by enjoying an after-dinner treat before the meal’s done.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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