A thrilling Warriors action ride

Only 10 games, or one-eighth of the way, into the 2014-15 NBA season and there’s an electric excitement buzzing through the Bay Area and beyond as the Golden State Warriors are off to their best start since the 1975-76 season, which was one year after the Golden State/San Francisco franchise’s only NBA title.

Capped by the recent back-to-back routs of the Charlotte Hornets and Los Angeles Lakers, respectively, the Warriors have an 8-2 record and a load of winable games coming up over the next few weeks, which could put them into a new area of hoops achievement by the end of the year.

With their rare dominating start, including going 4-1 both on and off the road, let’s enjoy everything about it at each level and revel in the sports beauty that this highly athletic, well-functioning team is, with talent, depth and toughness.

It’s going to be a thrilling Warriors action ride and we’re in for all the coast-to-coast action, filled with ups and downs, straights and turns, curves and bends, and, athletic poetry always in motion.

Golden State has a rich and deep talent pool, headed by splash brothers Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, and the major pillar of a post in intimidating bigman Andrew Bogut, and conducted by impressive new head coach Steve Kerr.

With Kerr and his stellar coaching staff directing, the Warriors will be defined by their fast-paced, multi-passes, sharp-shooting, fluid offense; and tough-minded, physical, in-your-face, bang-the-boards defense that will spark a high-flying transition game to produce points offensively, while reducing points defensively.

There’s a long season ahead of them, and a fast start doesn’t only translate into a strong, playoff-bound finish.

But, even without injured all-star David Lee’s highly productive offense for near all of the 10 games, the Warriors are getting mostly positive production from everyone who sees the court, which has been everyone of late with their one-sided wins, and they look more than rock-solid as a fixture in the title picture.

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The San Francisco 49ers pulled an improbable win out of another blown lead and loss by more conservative coaching decisions – mainly, keeping quarterback Colin Kaepernick in the pocket to be used as a punching bag.

It was, first, the 49ers’ defense which was responsible for the recent victory over the Saints in crazy loud New Orleans, but in was the running game and, especially, Kaepernick’s scrambling that turned the tide and enabled San Francisco to win.

Then, on Sunday, it was the defense that again came to the rescue for the Niners, intercepting five Eli Manning passes, the fifth pick coming by way of talented, magnet-to-the-ball rookie middle-linebacker Chris Borlund.

Already with an earlier theft, Borlund’s interception, which capped another outstanding defensive effort without two all-pro linebackers, came on fourth-down-and-goal with under five minutes left and preserved a 16-10 road victory over the New York Giants.

Again I must reiterate my hope that the 49ers’ coaches can loosen up their conservative coaching tendencies, especially in the red zone, and let Kaepernick run, pass and drive opponents to the brink of frustration.

The 49ers now have a 6-4 record and are back in the playoff picture, thanks to their well-coached and talented defense.

But they better get more than a first-half offense, because being so unproductive in the second half, with no fourth-quarter touchdowns in 10 games, won’t get it done and the 49ers are in danger of fading down the stretch. Ciao!