Warriors beat their own record, clinch earliest playoff berth in NBA history

It's always been a foregone conclusion that the Golden State Warriors would be back in the playoffs for a fifth straight season, and just like they did a year ago, the Bay Area bombers booked their trip in record time.

With their 112-95 win over the Brooklyn Nets at Oracle Arena Saturday night (Feb. 25), the Warriors clinched the earliest playoff berth in NBA history, breaking their previous record by two days (Feb. 27).

Both the 2015-16 and 2016-17 Warriors secured their spots exactly 123 days after opening night. However, since this season started two days earlier than the last, this becomes the earliest clinch of all time.

Golden State now sits at 49-9 following its victory over the lowly Nets, four games off the pace they set at this time last year when they were 53-5 and eventually went on to break the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls' mark with 73 regular-season wins.

The Warriors' magic number to claim the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference is 22. Meanwhile, that number is down to just 11 for Golden State to clinch home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.