I think a lot of us were nervous about this game. The Warriors’ aura of invincibility had been dimmed a bit by the loss to Boston; could they, as previously unthinkable, lose two in a row? It didn’t help when they gave up 37 in the first quarter to a hungry Portland Trail Blazers squad, with Damian Lilllard being his usual thorn in the side.

And the game stayed close most of the way, even with Steph Curry showing off a nice selection of his most preposterous shots and Draymond Green being a triple-double monster. But throughout the second half the Dubs slowly pulled away, and down the stretch they started hitting everything. The final score of 136-111 is deceptive, but the number that really matters is 69. The Warriors became just the fourth team in NBA history to win that many games, with five more still to play.

And here is where, to justify the title I gave this thing, I should compose a little ode to Steph. Again last night he put together a highlight reel that would be a pretty good season for most people, including a beautiful no-look pass to Harrison Barnes for a dunk and several of his long, off-balance threes that don’t even move the net. But time is tight, so instead I’m going to give the last word to NBA great Nate “Tiny” Archibald, who summed up Steph Curry in these four beautifully chosen words: “He’s exuberating with confidence.”