Golden State Warriors History: A Look Back at the 1991-92 ‘Road Warriors’ (Photo: Brian Drake/Getty Images)
Winning away from home in the NBA is no easy chore.
For our beloved Dubs over the years, being able to win on the road consistently has been almost next to impossible.
The proof is in the fact that the Warriors have only secured winning road records eight times in their franchise history. This season, however, they’re on pace to match their all-time road record at 24-17.
The last Warrior team to achieve this?
Don Nelson‘s 1991-92 post-Run TMC squad, which posted a 55-27 record before being ousted in the first round of the playoffs by the former Seattle SuperSonics.
That year winning 55 games, 24 of them away from Oakland, was anything but expected.
Just prior the beginning of the season in what was a wildly unpopular move, Nelson broke up the famed Run TMC squad by trading Mitch Richmond to the Sacramento Kings for Billy Owens.
With a stunned fan base and team still picking up the pieces from what remained of the original Nellie “small-ball” squad, the Dubs began the season in the Mile High City to face the Denver Nuggets.
Not only would the Warriors win that tough road season opener, 108-105, they would also win six of their first seven road games. The team went 3-1 on their first Eastern road swing.
Wins at the eventual World Champion Chicago Bulls, at the Milwaukee Bucks and at the Washington Bullets set a tone for the entire season. They then followed this up with impressive Western Conference wins at the Los Angeles Clippers and at the Portland Trail Blazers.
In fact, it wouldn’t be until the beginning of December when the club would finally lose back-to-back away games at Seattle and against the Utah Jazz.
Whether it was the sizzling shooting of Tim Hardaway and Chris Mullin, the inside presence of Owens, Chris Gatling and Tyrone Hill, or the unstoppable bench motor of Sarunas Marciulionis, the Warriors were clicking.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeK5JoDAgp8&w=420&h=315]By the time the Warriors had rolled to a 114-99 win over the “Showtime” Los Angeles Lakers at the “Fabulous Forum” right before the New Year, the Warriors were off to a stellar 19-8 record. More than half of those victories had been notched away from the cozy confines of the Oakland County Coliseum Arena.
As the season progressed, so did the wins home and away. The team continued to win, even on long road trips.
In early January, the Dubs completed a very seldom seen “Texas Three-Step” sweep by beating the San Antonio Spurs, Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks all on their home courts within five days.
February gave the Warriors their second win at the Lakers, as well as a gritty 3-3 trip back East with wins at the New York Knicks and Orlando Magic. After wins at the Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers and New Jersey Nets in March, the club surpassed the break-even total for road wins at 22.
With a final win at the Minnesota Timberwolves late in the season, the Warriors reached 24 road wins.
This Golden State road record still stands today.
Unfortunately in a cruel twist of fate, the inability to get a much needed win on the road in the first round of the playoffs would be the Dubs’ undoing as they garnered the 3rd seed but eliminated in four games against 6th-seeded Seattle, 3-1, in the then-best-of-five opening round.
All that seems to be remembered now from that stellar season is Shawn Kemp slamming the door on Alton Lister and the stunned Warriors.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2GaAWdHwsw&w=560&h=315]The head coach that year for the Sonics, ironically, was George Karl and, as #DubNation well knows, in 2012-13 the 6th-seeded Warriors were take down Karl’s 3rd-seeded Nuggets.
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